Ethiopia-Djibouti railway starts truck shipment

On Wednesday, truck shipments from ports in Djibouti to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa began on the Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway.

At the Indode Freight Station outside of Addis Ababa, the first round of 63 trucks arrived on Wednesday. At the station, a unique ceremony was performed to commemorate the arrival of the first shipment.

Denge Boru, the state minister for transport and logistics in Ethiopia, characterised the accomplishment as essential to developing the transport and logistics industry.

The state minister emphasised the railway’s rising role in enhancing the import-export commerce of the East African nation by noting that the trucks arrived at the station in only one day with higher efficiency, saving time and resources.

“Transport and logistics is an important aspect of the Ethiopian government’s aspiration toward socio-economic development, in which the railway plays a vital role in revolutionizing the sector,” he said.

On his part, Abdi Zenebe, CEO of the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway Share Company (EDR), lauded the move as an enabler to diversify the railway’s service operations, eventually facilitating Ethiopia’s transportation system.

Zenebe called on private companies to tap into the railway’s transport and logistics potential for their import-export necessities from ports in Djibouti all the way to Addis Ababa.