The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Company (ESLSE) celebrated the success of a fertilizer shipment that was registered in a very short time, unlike in the past. Officials from Doraleh Multipurpose Port and Djibouti Customs were also commended for the seamless service they provided to the Ministry of Agriculture and ESLSE.
At the event held at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel on September 17, the logistics giant and the Ministry of Agriculture recognized the partners for their contribution to the timely delivery of various fertilizers before the start of the Ethiopian agricultural season, which begins at the onset of the rainy season.
Roba Megersa, CEO of ESLSE, said that over the past three years, after the government entrusted ESLSE with the responsibility of managing the shipment of fertilizer from the Doraleh Multipurpose Loading Port to the main destination points, ESLSE has achieved massive performance.
“Working with our partners, including the Ministry of Agriculture, we have seen improvements every year,” he said.
“The tireless efforts and working as one organization with stakeholders in Djibouti, Doraleh Multipurpose Port and Djibouti Customs has been one of the main reasons for the success in transporting fertilizer on time,” Roba told Capital newspaper.
Similarly, Debele Kabeta, commissioner of the Ethiopian Customs Commission, and Rahma Omar Bogoreh, director of Djibouti’s transit department, told the capital newspaper that the strong relationship and cooperation between the customs offices of the two countries is one of the exemplary achievements recorded in the logistics sector, in addition to that of sending fertilizer.
Regarding the port activity of handling the fertilizer cargo, Djama Ibrahim Darar, DG of DMP, said he was pleased with the recognition.
“We have made incredible efforts to deliver the fertilizer to our Ethiopian farmers on time,” said Mr. Ibrahim Darar, adding, “We have achieved the best performance in unloading and transporting fertilizer cargoes in a very short time.”
The DG recalled that a record was set for unloading fertilizer in a single day. DMP managed to unload more than 20,000 tons of fertilizer in one day.
The port executive expressed his company’s commitment to continue high quality service for Ethiopian cargoes, “especially for fertilizer, on-time delivery is our top priority.”
The ESLSE CEO also acknowledged the efficiency of the system put in place by Doraleh Multipurpose Port to manage the shipment of fertilizer from arrival to shipment, which has been done extraordinarily well.
Minister Oumer said that the commitment of ESLSE and DMP is improving every year, “This enables us to get and distribute fertilizers for our farmers.”
Mengistu Tesfa, head of agricultural inputs procurement at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that for various reasons, the launch of fertilizer import operations has been relatively delayed compared to the past.
“If we compare the experience of the previous year, only 203 days were needed to transport 1.3 million tons of fertilizer. A year ago, it took 244 days to transport fertilizer,” said Mengistu.
He added that the effort of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway SC (EDR) has been fantastic in moving the cargo by rail from the DMP terminal.
Mr. Roba said that during the year, 26,000 trucks traveled between the port of DMP and the center of the country and 2,200 train cars, in all, 61 trips were assigned to transport the fertilizer.
ESLSE assigned 25 vessels to transport the cargo to Djibouti, as the service is a door-to-door operation, with the products being transferred to the center closest to the Ethiopian farmers.
“This year, the train has helped us a lot in speeding up the transport of fertilizer to the center. EDR’s share of the total fertilizer shipment was 12%,” explained ESLSE’s CEO.
The DMP team is proud to have helped make the Ethiopian national plan a reality.