Exploratory Study of the Dry Port Service in Ethiopian Context: the Case of Addis Ababa Dry Port Kaliti Branch
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
A dry port is a recent phenomenon in the Ethiopian logistics history. The Addis Ababa dry port
Kaliti branch is among the youngest dry ports established in Ethiopia. It was officially called a dry
port in 2014 to facilitate entry and exit of goods from different ports. Customers using the port,
however, complain that the port does not deliver an efficient service to its clients. The focus of this
paper is to explore issues that could hinder the efficient service delivery. By employing qualitative
approaches, the researcher conducted In-depth Interviews with both employees and clients of the
dry port. Moreover, site observation was made to explore the current facilities of the dry port and
compare it with other dry ports. Customers indicated that, the human resource of the dry port is
not equipped with the necessary dry port knowledge as being the dry port a recent phenomenon in
Ethiopia there is shortage of professionals who have the knowledge of logistics activities. Most
employees get familiar with their current duties by experience and short term trainings given by
the organizations. Though the current facility has enough space, there were no adequate offices
for both employees and other stakeholders of the organization and warehouse facilities. Most
participants agree that not using modern information technologies has not made the dry port as
competitive as other dry ports. There was a difference of opinion on the current governance of the
dry port between the study participants that few respondents say that being a public enterprise
didn’t hinder the dry port to operate efficiently but the study revealed that most facilities are not
fulfilled by budget constraints and other related management issues of the dry port. Based on the
findings, there is a lot to be done on both in infrastructure and human power so that the dry port
would be competitive and deliver a quality service to all its customers
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Keywords
Ethiopian context, Exploratory study