There are fears that other regional ports will lose business to the Djibouti port

Written by Githua Kihara   

Djibouti, April 18, 2009 – The port of Djibouti has become the first regional port to handle a Post Panamax vessel, one of the biggest cargo ships, and there are fears that other regional ports will lose business to the port as ship builders shift focus on the construction of these huge vessels that other regional ports cannot handle.

The $400 millions Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT) at the port of Djibouti, which was launched in December last year became the first regional port to handle a Post Panamax vessel. According to officials at Djibouti port, the terminal can handle several such vessels at the same time.

Busiest routes

The port of Djibouti is located at the crossroads of one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, linking Europe, the Far East, Africa and the Arabian Gulf.

Doraleh, located 11 kilometres from the present terminal sits at the mouth of Red Sea and this will make it a transshipment hub for countries of the Comesa, maritime experts say.  

Kenya’s capacity to handle Post Panamax vessels will be realised in 2015 if the construction of Lamu port begins next year as planned.

The government has already invited bidders to do a feasibility study for the port. The Lamu port, which will be backed by a second transport corridor, is focusing on the Ethiopia and southern Sudan cargo. Currently, 85 per cent of the cargo handled by the port of Djibouti is Ethiopian cargo.

Doraleh’s 18 meters draft makes it one of the few ports in Africa capable of handling a vessel of this size. Mombasa, which has a narrow channel of 600 meters and a draft depth of 12 meters cannot be able to handle large vessel. Dar es Salaam too has a very narrow draft that can not accommodate Post Panamax vessels.

Lamu port

Doraleh received CMA CGM’s Ivanhoe vessel with a nominal capacity of 9660 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units ( Teus). Many ships calling at the regional ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam have the capacity to handle less than 3000 Teus.

The vessel, with an overall length of 350 meters and a width of 43 meters has a gross tonnage of more than 111,000 tonnes. Ivanhoe is one of the four Post Panamax vessels completed late last year by Hyundai’s Ulsan shipyard for CMA CGM.

The Lamu port to be constructed at Manda bay and Naval Base will require very minimal dredging because Lamu waters have a natural depth of over 15 metres deep, the inter ministerial committee on the second transport corridor lead consultant, Dr Mutule Kilonzo said.

Source: Business Daily Africa - ‎, Apr 7, 2009‎

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