With increased economic activity throughout the Horn and East Africa the regions’ ports are more important than ever. Mombassa and Dar es Salaam are at full capacity, Djibouti is undergoing further expansion, which leaves Berbera Port the only other viable entry/exit point until the Lamu development is completed. Berbera Port sits in a very strategic location on the Red Sea and looks set to become a major port in the region for Somaliland, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. Somaliland’s government has signaled its eagerness to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects and views the upgrading and expansion of the port as integral to the development of the Berbera Corridor. In recent years a number of companies including France’s Bolloré Africa Logistics, the Hong Kong based, Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), and Holland-based, APM Terminals have expressed an interest in playing a role in the Port of Berbera. With the green light having been given for privation already bids are being placed with Somaliland’s National Tender Board with regard to securing the rights to manage the Berbera petroleum storage facility. Companies such as Hass Petroleum, Jet Oil and Red Sea Petroleum have already thrown their hat into the ring. The likelihood is that further interest will follow and before too long Berbera will be in a position to offer effective competition to Djibouti.
