FAA To Handle Food Aid Consignment For Ethiopia

Berbera (SL Times): Work for packing, clearing and forwarding 20,500 tons of food aid supplied by the European Union and intended for Ethiopia is going to resume today after a lull of two days following a dispute over transportation charges.

FAA, a Somaliland company with a solid experience in handling similar shipments was granted a contract for clearing and forwarding the food consignment.

An initial demand by local truckers to have the transportation fee charged per ton raised to well above the $43 rate offered by FAA was re-adjusted last night to a level of $45 following a successful mediation senior government officials.

Hundreds of previously idle trucks are expected to take part in forwarding the food aid up to warehouses in eastern Ethiopia.

According to FAA manager, Farhan Ali, the local economy is expected to benefit from the operation as a whole "About $1,600,000 will go into our economy which has been very badly affected by the ban imposed on livestock exports to S. Arabia" Mr. Farhan added.

Forwarding the whole food aid shipment is expected to last for 16 days. More ships carrying food aid for Ethiopia are planned to be routed through Berbera.

"But that will depend on how efficiently we handle this one" Farhan concluded.

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