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BERBERA | Berbera Port | €500million | Proposed

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9K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  ModernNomad01 
#1 ·
Bollore Africa Logistics is to invest €500 in Berbera
Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:43 pm

ADDIS ABABA - French company Bollore Africa Logistics is to invest €500-million in the Somali port of Berbera, a crucial lifeline for landlocked Ethiopia, a diplomat said Wednesday.

Berbera, less than 300 kilometres east of the former French colony of Djibouti, faces Yemen on the Gulf of Aden and is the economic capital of Somaliland, a breakaway state more stable than the rest of Somalia.

"Bollore is about to invest €500-million in Berbera port to improve the port and create a new corridor to the hinterland.

Ethiopia is very excited about that," a French diplomat based in Addis Ababa said.

"The project is not completely finalised, but Bollore has a huge presence in West Africa and is interested in East Africa," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The company is part of a group owned by Vincent Bollore, a leader in West Africa's ports sector and close friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Somalia has the longest coastline on the continent and forms the "horn" of Africa, which juts out into the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and commands access to some of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

Ethiopia has had good relations with the self-proclaimed government of Somaliland and is heavily reliant on the port of Berbera for supplies.

The Bollore group confirmed to AFP in Paris it was interested in the project but did not elaborate further.

"We have not made an offer yet and no amount has been agreed," a spokesperson said.
 
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#2 ·
Bolloré voudrait investir 500M en Somalie

Bolloré voudrait investir 500M en Somalie
AFP
14/10/2009 | Mise à jour : 13:05 | Commentaires 3 | Ajouter à ma sélection
Le groupe français Bolloré envisage d'investir 500 millions d'euros dans le port somalien de Berbera (nord) afin de créer un nouveau corridor d'approvisionnement pour l'Ethiopie, a-t-on appris aujourd'hui de source diplomatique française.

Berbera est le principal port de la province semi-autonome du Somaliland (nord de la Somalie), situé à 1.090 km d'Addis Abeba, la capitale éthiopienne. Pour l'instant, l'Ethiopie, pays enclavé depuis l'indépendance de l'Erythrée en 1992, dépend essentiellement du port de Djibouti pour ses approvisionnements et ses exportations, ce qui créé des problèmes d'engorgement au niveau du port comme de la route entre les deux pays.
Comparé à la partie sud de la Somalie, le Somaliland jouit d'une relative stabilité en dépit de tensions politiques liées aux multiples reports de l'élection présidentielle.

"Nous sommes maintenant à la phase finale, mais ce n'est pas encore signé", a précisé cette source, soulignant que "la principale faiblesse du projet pour l'instant, c'est le mauvais état de la route qui relie Berbera à l'Ethiopie, qui doit être réparée".
 
#4 ·
Nice find. :applause:

I really hope the best will come out of this, its nice seeing some FDI flowing into Somaliland. IMHO, I think Somalia will prosper much faster if it were to continue being split up into three, and when everyone is done with their fighting, then they should re-consolidate.
 
#6 ·
That's what I believe too.

This is good news for Ethiopia and Somaliland. Not too good for Djibouti if other ports Ethiopia can use are being developed.
 
#10 ·
Perhaps Ethiopia will see a potential benefit, although as said earlier, tremendous infrastructural improvements would have to made for them to actually benefit from it. All you have at the moment is dirt roads connecting Hargeisa to Berbera let alone to Ethiopia, and there isn't even a rail connection.

Short term benefit for this project goes to the domestic livestock trade, which is the main cash earnings for Somaliland, and that will stand to benefit even further by the repeal of the ban.
 
#12 ·
Not really. Again if they build a port there, it won't be serious competition to Djibouti until a railroad, a road in a good shape (which is not the case now) are built. It is going to take time to be a serious competitor to Djibouti which has 2 international ports (the region's best) a road and railroad linking Djibouti to Addis Abeba.
 
#15 ·
Bolloré May Sign $700 Million Port Agreement With Somaliland


By Jason McLure

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bolloré Africa Logistics, a unit of Bollore SA, may sign an agreement to manage the port of Berbera and oversee $700 million of upgrades to the facility in Somalia’s breakaway northern Somaliland region, Abdillahi Duale, the foreign minister, said.

“Our discussions are already in an advanced stage,” Duale said today in an interview in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. “We have already made a basic agreement.”

Representatives of Bolloré, an investment company controlled by French billionaire Vincent Bollore, have met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Somaliland President Dahir Riyale to discuss the agreement which will probably be signed next year, he said. Berbera port handles food aid and other cargo bound for landlocked Ethiopia.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aepiGpODItOw
 
#17 ·
Somaliland to pick Berbera port partner by end of year​





May 27 Somaliland expects to choose a partner to develop and manage its Berbera port by the end of the year, with construction expected to start early next year, the breakaway territory's foreign minister said on Wednesday.


Mohamed Behi Yonis said the state, which broke away from Somalia in 1991 but is not internationally recognised, was in talks with France's Bollore, the Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company and Dubai's DP World.

"Those are the three major port management companies that are interested in developing the port. We have been discussing with all of them," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an African Development Bank meeting in Ivory Coast.

"We have not made up our minds. We're looking at all options," he added.

Yonis said the port was expected to become a major transit hub for goods entering and leaving the Horn of Africa and particularly Somaliland's landlocked but economically thriving neighbour Ethiopia.

Ethiopia lost its direct access to the sea in 1993 when Eritrea gained independence following a three-decade civil war. It is currently heavily dependent on the port of Djibouti.

"They don't want all their eggs in one basket," Yonis said, adding that Somaliland had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ethiopian government to ease access to the port.

"That entails the development of the Berbera corridor, a road from the border with Ethiopia to Berbera. We are also thinking of having a railway," he said.

...
Link
 
#18 ·
Egypt to help with developing Somalia’s Berbera port
May 29, 2015
The government represented in the Agriculture, International Cooperation, Trade and Industry ministries announced a new cooperation with Somalia in the development of the port of Berbera, which will be an outlet for Somalia’s exports to Egypt.

Cairo will also develop the infrastructure necessary for the establishment of butcher shops and animal quarantines funded by Egyptian businessmen and importers.

The announcement was made ahead of a tour organized for the Somali Ministers of Animal Resources and Fisheries in Cairo, which begins on Friday. A meeting with Agriculture Minister Salah Al Hilal will be held Friday ahead of the tour.

President of the African Association of Cattle, Hassan Hafez, said in a statement that the ministers will sign protocols for joint cooperation between the two countries in the areas of trade of food commodities, medicine and household items, in return for Egypt’s import of Somali live cattle and fish.

He pointed out that Somalia has a comparative advantage in the export of
live cattle as it breeds more than 30 million cattle.

egyptindependent.com
 
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