The Ethiopian Shipping Lines & Logistics Service Enterprise’s (ESLSE) and the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) are expected to conclude an agreement for the transport of petroleum in early 2014.

The ESLSE's will transport petroleum through its newly squired two oil tankers. This comes after a year of carrying other goods, pending a deal to be concluded with the EPE, according to Fortune.

Current petroleum supply contracts also include transportation costs, however, as outstanding contracts draws to a close, the EPE has told petroleum suppliers to make their new offers exclusive of transportation costs, Abayneh Awol, fuel supply manager at the EPE told Fortune.

“We already informed our suppliers that we want to handle the transport ourselves,” Abayneh said.

Ethiopia imports benzene, which accounts for around 75 percent of the total consumption of the country, from the Sudan and fuel oil, kerosene, diesel and other petroleum products from Kuwait,Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

In a related news, The ESLSE is also taking over from TDS, a Djiboutian company, the task of assigning trucks for inland transportation, as of October 28, 2013, following the conclusion of an agreement with the Trans, Comet, Tikur Abay, Bekelcha, United, Star and Africacargo, local transport companies on Monday, October 7, 2013.

Source: Fortune