The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise plans to make Ethiopia's Modjo Dry Port the biggest logistics hub in the country with a $150 million funding by the World Bank, it was reported.

Ewnetu Taye, Deputy CEO of Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise, said the Modjo Dry Port will be fully transformed into a logistics hub in the coming five years. By then, he said the hub will have a capacity to store bulk cargos and containers that will be directly connected to the Djibouti Port through the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway.

Import and export of goods, including coal, flowers, and vegetables will be handled by the logistics hub, the Deputy CEO pointed out.

Mr. Ewnetu went on to say that the expanded hub will rest on 300 hectares of land. This will be a ten-fold expansion for the now 30-hectare wide Modjo Dry Port.

Dereje Mideksa, Director-General of Modjo Dry Port and Terminal, speaking to ENA, said the dry port has been "hugely contributing" to Ethiopia's import-export trade. Over 80 percent of multi-modal containers are served through the Modjo Port.

The Modjo Dry Port, which went operational 11 years ago with a capacity of serving 1,000 containers at a time, can now hold up to 16,000 containers at a time.

Source: ENA