Friday September 18, 2015
The Republic of Djibouti is concluding plans to launch a sea air cargo service to Nigeria and other West African countries.
Speaking at a business forum organised by the Djibouti Consulate and SIFAX Group, the Chairman, Djbouti Ports and Free Trade Zones Authority, Mr. Abubakar Omar Hadi said his country was adopting a proactive approach towards connecting inter Africa trade to flourish and to push behind the past and current realities of the unconnected continent.While noting that the challenge of long transit time to Africa was due to lack of adequate rail and air connection among African countries, Hadi said Djbouti's effort at addressing this challenge is the leveraging of its location along the second busiest shipping route in the world.
According to him, the route transits 60 per cent of the world maritime traffic in making efforts alongside other countries to build maritime, aviation and other logistics infrastructure across the continent.
"We are developing the sea-air cargo business to serve land locked East and Central African countries as well as far away West African countries which currently have to endure unreasonably long transit time for their imports coming from Asia. This has been handicapping the business community for many years and the development of sea-air cargo services especially for high value goods will be a great solution,” Hadi said.
He disclosed that the country has invested millions of dollars in infrastructural development in order to meet the demands of becoming a multi-modal regional hub for East Africa as well as being a key player in the seamless connection of Africa especially through rail and air.
"Djibouti is seizing this opportunity to develop its own aviation-linked economy. When it comes to sea port services we have been very successful in putting Djibouti on the world map and it is evident to all that we are making rapid advances in this sector by building four brand new ports and port related infrastructure such as our planned ship repair yards. We are building one of the biggest free trade zone spanning 4350 hectares”, he said.
Enumerating a number of benefits derivable from the emerging economy of Djibouti, Hadi explained that the country's plans of transforming to a successful service-base economy will lead to timely delivery of cargoes as cargo owners will now save as much as 30 to 50 per cent over a purely ocean transit time.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Honorary Consul of Djibouti in Nigeria and Group Executive Vice Chairman, Sifax Group, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi enjoined Nigerian businessmen and investors to take advantage of the emerging economic opportunities in the country, adding that Djibouti is positioned to become the Dubai of Africa in the next few years.
Afolabi noted that the country enjoys the advantage of a stable political system, strategic location on a busy maritime route and a friendly business environment. He assured interested Nigerians of the assistance of the consulate and Sifax Group in facilitating both business and investment needs in Djibouti.
The Consul also announced that the consulate and Sifax Group would organise a trade mission to Djibouti in October.
"The trade mission will provide a platform for interested parties to explore and interact effectively with a view to making an informed decision on available opportunities and partnerships of mutual interest and benefits,” he said.
In his presentation, the Managing Director, Sifax Group, Mr. Markus Brinkmann, said with subsidiaries like Ports and Cargo Handling Services Limited, a port operator and Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, an aviation ground handling company, Sifax Group is well positioned to support Djibouti in delivering this ambitious project.