Bolloré May Sign $700 Million Port Agreement With Somaliland


Dec. 23, 2009 (Bloomberg) -- Bolloré Africa Logistics, a unit of Bollore SA, may sign an  agr eement to manage the port of Berbera and oversee $700 million of upgrades to the  faci lity in Somalia’s breakaway northern Somaliland region, Abdillahi Duale, the foreign  minis ter, said.

“Our discussions are already in an advanced stage,” Duale said today in an interview in  th e 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.

Port revenue provides approximately 75 percent of the Somaliland government’s $50 million in annual revenue. Somaliland, a former British protectorate that merged with Italy’s Somali colony in 1960 to form Somalia, has remained largely free of violence during the 18-year civil war in central and southern Somalia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg on pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
 

Source:Bloomberg
 

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 Yem en 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 el aborate further.

"We have not made an offer yet and no amount has been agreed," a spokesperson said.
 

Source:skyscrapercity.com

Bollore Proposes New Logistics Corridor For Ethiopia's Sea Bound Trade
Ethiopia - Freight Transport - Dec 11 2009



Bolloré Africa Logistics (BAL), the logistics arm of the Bolloré Group has proposed a new strategy to link land-locked Ethiopia to a port. BMI offers an overview of the proposal,inv estigates why Ethiopia is in need of new links to the sea and outlines the challenges the logistics corridor project will face.

BAL's plan would see a logistics corridor developed from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ab aba to the Somaliland port of Berbera. The company has outlined that EUR100-200mn wo uld be needed to upgrade the road network from the Ethiopian border to the port of  Ber bera so that it is fit for road haulage purposes.

Ethiopia has been landlocked since Eritrea declared independence in the 1990s. The country is, however, heavily dependent on foreign trade. Its top export partners are Germany, Saudi Arabia and the US. The country receives the majority of its imports from Saudi Arabia, China, India and Italy, countries that can only be reached by sea. To cater for Ethiopia's sea dominated trade demands, the country is developing its maritime fleet. Ethiopia's national carrier Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL) is planning to double its fleet capa city in the mid term.

A Logistical Nightmare
Proposed Addis Ababa-Port of Berbera Logistics Corridor
A Logistical Nightmare - Prosposed Addis Ababa-Port of Berbera Logistics Corridor


Source: BMI