The first East African inland dry port in Rwanda, has officially commenced operations with an aim of improving the country’s import and export fortunes from main ports in Tanzania and Kenya.
The Dubai-based global port operator DP World and the Rwandan government who participated in the opening ceremony, said the US $80m facility will make Rwanda, despite being a landlocked country, a regional hub for intra-African trade.
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East African inland dry port
The 13 hectares facility features an Inland Container Terminal with modern warehousing capacity, a container yard and administrative and services buildings. It is located 20 kilometers from the capital city Kigali and close to the international airport.
The cargo holding capacity greatly improves efficiency and by embracing use of modern machinery, it reduces logistics. The size and capacity of the port will make it possible for trucks to easily deposit their containers rather than waiting for their assets to be cleared.
According to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda quarterly GDP report Rwanda’s imports have increased to US $215m as of August and exports have increased to US $93m as of August 2018. Averagely, Rwanda’s imports runs at US $270m from 1998 to 2018. The increase has increased year after year as companies invest more on capital, energy, lubricants and intermediary goods
Sumeet Bhardwaj, CEO of DPW Logistics Rwanda, however clarified that although the facility is in operation, it will officially be launched between January and February 2019.In 2016, DP World was granted a 25-year concession to develop the Inland Port that has an annual capacity of 50,000 TEUs and 640,000 tonnes of warehousing space.
Sumeet Bhardwaj further added that the company is also establishing a road transport solution that will allow clients to fully outsource their end-to-end logistics needs, including international shipments, clearances, repacking and final deliveries.
Are you sure this is the first dry port in East Africa? Ethiopia has already developed many dry ports years back.
I think you should check facts before you report.
isaka in Tanzania has been a dry port for more than two decades