Modern Terminal Opens at Somaliland’s Berbera Port

A new container terminal has opened at Berbera in the breakaway region of Somaliland, as part of an effort to build a major regional trade hub.

Port operator DP World opened the shipping facility Thursday during ceremonies attended by a high-level Ethiopian delegation led by Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s minister of finance, and by Mustafa Mohammed Omar, the president of Ethiopia’s Somali region.  The development is a part of a $101 million project to expand the port on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden. According to Somaliland and DP World officials, Berbera’s new terminal will increase the port’s container capacity from the current 150,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) to 500,000 TEUs annually. Speaking to the media, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi said the new facility is an economic opportunity for his region and areas nearby.