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The Ethiopian Standards Agency announced that it has approved more than 2000 new and revised quality standards in seven sectors in the completed fiscal year.

An estimated 15,000 of the standards approved are new while the other 500 or so are revisions of existing standards according to Daniel Zenebe, Communication and Public Relations Head for the Agency.

The standards approved by the agency are expected to play a notable role in enhancing the productivity of the domestic industries and support the transfer of technology he noted.

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise is planning to implement a restructure to split is services into four divisions following its recent amalgamation according to sources.

The restructure is in the process of implementation in the dry port, transport and shipping sectors said sources within the enterprise.

The four divisions that the new structure will implement will include logistics, shipping, terminal and supportive in a bid to speed up the services offered by the enterprise. It is expected that management for the logistics and terminal divisions will be externally appointed while the other two divisions, shipping and supportive will be handled by existing staff said sources.

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprises (ESLSE) and AD Ports Group, an Abu Dhabi based company which provides transportation and logistics services, reached an agreement to sign a memorandum of understanding to work together in shipping and transportation services including land transport, free trade zone, cold storage, port and terminal, and feeder services.

ESLSE is asking importers to collect their containers on time to alleviate congestion at the dry ports in Ethiopia. The congestion is becoming a problem for the implementation of the new Multi-modal Transport System according to Ahmed Tusa, Chief Executive of the ESLSE.

The system is being implemented but the problem is collecting containers accumulated at Port Djibouti. The Enterprise has been forced to construct a terminal of Bekelcha Transport S.C. located in Adama that has the capacity to store 9300 containers because of the congestion.

Containers from Djibouti will be handled at Bekelcha beginning this week according to Ahmed.

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise has completed the first phase of its restructuring program. The first phase of the restructuring program concentrated on bringing together the three maritime enterprises according to Ahmed Tusa, Chief Executive Officer of the enterprise.

The incorporation and reconstruction of the new enterprise was handled through its own capacity according to several studies said Ahmed.

The enterprise was restructured into four sub-divisions to be led by four deputy Chief Executive Officers. The four sectors are ‘Freight Forwarding, Shipping and Transport Sector, Port and Terminal Services Sector, and Supportive Sector explained Ahmed.

The first three sectors were already functioning as independent organizations or since the new enterprise with the exception of the Supportive Sector he noted.