Djibouti to Build Largest Ship Maintenance Yard in East Africa

The administration of Ismael Omar Guelleh in Djibouti is planning to build what is anticipated to be the largest ship maintenance yard for East Africa and on the Red Sea corridor.

The project will cost 400 million dollars.

It is still necessary to choose the site for erecting the shipyard between the north coast of Djibouti and the country’s south coast, around Damerjog.

The ship maintenance yard will be the ninth on the continent and the second on the East African coast, next to the 70-year old African Marine & General Engineering Co Ltd of Kenya. Djibouti’s shipyard will have the capacity to repair ships with 50,000dwt (dead weight), while its rival in Mombassa operates only up to 12,000dwt.

Djibouti is the second of the three largest routes in the world, apart from the Pacific and North Atlantic routes. Approximately 90 large and medium size vessels, operated by liners such as Maersk and MSE, sail on this route, carrying around six million units of containers a year.

The country is planning to invest in next three years, a 1.54 billion-dollar in expanding its existing port facilities and building new ones.

There is also a plan to construct new free zone, Jaban-us Free Zone, on a 57ht plot, 12km west of Djibouti Town.

The estimated cost is 30 million dollars.

The government of Djibouti is planning to launch the 330 million dollars second phase of the Doraleh Port development and convert the old Djibouti Port to a general cargo facility, at a projected cost of 88.5 million dollars, while expanding the newly built oil terminal at the Port of Doraleh at a cost of 150 million dollars, upgrading the facility’s storage capacity by 30pc.

The drawing board is intending to build brand new ports, including a livestock port, handing two million head, annually, in the south of Djibouti at a projected cost of 50 million dollars; in Goubet to provide a support of a 4.5 million-tonne salt export, which could cost 55 million dollars; and the Port of Tajourah, one of the closest sea gates to landlocked Ethiopia, to be built at a projected cost of 85 million dollars.

The financing of the shipyard construction is partly derived from the Djiboutian government and half from private investors in Europe and India.

The due date for the deal is by February 2012, and the construction will be launched after three months. The design and feasibility studies for the project are developed by a European partner.

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, December 13, 2011; Image: lanation