Ethiopia-Djibouti railway begins temporary freight transportation

Monday, November 23, 2015

ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia (Xinhua) -- Hailemariam Desalegn, Ethiopian Prime Minister addresses the Chinese Media in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. XINHUA PHOTO - MICHAEL TEWELDE

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The Ethiopian-Djibouti rail project, which is being carried out by two Chinese companies succeeded in temporary freight transportation of emergency supplies.

The first cargo, carrying 1125 tons of wheat from Djibouti arrived on Saturday in Merebe Mermersa, approximately 112 km south of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
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The Ethiopian government has purchased large quantities of wheat to support people in the areas affected by recent droughts.

"We have seen the first cargo that is from Djibouti to Ethiopia. We are proud of this. From now on, we will continue the operation," Netsanet Hussein, Ethio-Djibouti Rail Project Manager told Xinhua.

"We are not in our full capacity for the moment, we are now about 40 percent of our capacity. We will continue and within few days we will reach our maximum capacity," he said.

The 756 km Ethio-Djibouti railway is being constructed by China Railway Group (CREC) from Sebeta/ Addis Ababa to Miesso and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) is responsible for the Miesso to Djibouti section.

Hussein said different stakeholders including the two Chinese contractors have made joint efforts for the success of the first freight transportation service.

It took 16 hours for the first cargo to reach Ethiopia from Djibouti said the manager, adding that when the full capacity reached, the time will be reduced to 10 to 12 hours.

Fu Xun, CREC Project Manager told Xinhua that his company has mobilized specialized personnels from its headquarter in China to ensure the sound operation of the temporary freight transportation.

"We have some remaining works, we have been trying to intensify our efforts, to mobilize more resources to complete it. For this particular purpose, we have arranged the temporary loading and unloading facilities in order to make sure that the cargo arrive safely on time," he said.
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