Assessment of Freight Transport and Transportation Infrastructures Along International Trade Route The Case of China – Djibouti – Ethiopia
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2015-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Ethiopia is a landlocked country in East Africa. The ability to transport freight goods quickly, economically
and reliably is very important to a nation’s prosperity and competence in global market. Currently the
logistics system of Ethiopia is characterized by poor logistics management system and poor transportation
infrastructures. In addition to that the country is mainly dependent on only Djibouti port for international
trade. Its inland transportation is also underdeveloped as only road transportation is used for main share of
freight transport.
The objective of this thesis was to assess the freight transport and transportation infrastructures along the
China-Djibouti-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) trade route via Modjo dry port. The sea transportation from China to
Djibouti and inland road transportation from Djibouti to Addis Ababa was also studied including the inland
road transportation infrastructures along with identifying the existing freight transport and logistics problems
on the international trade route. Primary data has been collected using interview and questionnaire; also
secondary data from different stake holders in the freight transport and logistics in addition literatures were
used to enrich the assessment. The methodology used is qualitative and quantitative type for a comparative
assessment and analysis.
From the research it was found out that for containerized goods, the sea freight unit cost applied for 20TEU
containers from Chinese ports of Tianjin and Shanghai to Djibouti port was USD 1,500 and USD 1,315
respectively. And for the inland road transportation, the freight rates from Djibouti port to Modjo dry port
ranges from 1,734 to 1,854 USD per 20TEU container. This means it costs more to truck a container from
Djibouti to Addis Ababa, than to ship the same container from China to Djibouti. In terms of time the sea
transport will take a voyage time of 40days and 37days (including sea time and time in ports) from Tianjin
and Shanghai ports to Djibouti port respectively. For inland road transportation from Djibouti to Modjo dry
port, it takes 2 – 10 days on performance basis under normal circumstances. In the future there may be a
cheaper alternative of oil pipeline and railway in the Djibouti-Addis Ababa route which are considered to be
the more efficient and least cost modes of transport. As most authors agree, it is better to consider a variety
of modes in combination so that the respective advantages/benefits of each mode are better exploited thus the
Intermodal transportation (“Multimodal”) have most significant positive impacts over the freight transport
i.e. Considering other alternatives beyond the current Shipping → Trucking system of freight transport to
Shipping → Rail → Trucking and Shipping → Pipeline → Trucking (Oil transport). For the case of
transportation infrastructures, 65.9 % of the trunk road Addis Ababa–Djibouti border is in a good condition,
13.2% in a poor condition and the rest of the percentage in fair condition. For the case of the Bridges along
the same route; 53% in a good condition, 22% in a poor condition and the remaining 25% in fair condition.
The road stretching from Djibouti Border (Galafi) to Djibouti Port, 28% is in good condition, 21% of the
highway in Poor to Very poor condition and the remaining percentage in fair condition. The new Addis
Ababa-Adama toll road, the new Awash River crossing bridge and the under construction outer ring road of
Lebu-Akaki-Goro are expected to improve the flow of traffic in the route in saving a travel time and
lowering the vehicle operating cost for instance the heavy vehicles are only paying for 38% of the benefit
they have gained on the new toll road. The new Electrical (environmental friendly) railway from Addis
Ababa to Djibouti is likely to improve the inland freight transport system with a faster travel time of 10
hours on the route relative to the average two days taken on inland road transportation and it may be able to
replace at least 94TEU containers that were transported on inland road transportation. The use of ecofriendly
mode of transportation of the Pipeline and railway system will enable saving of enormous amount of
fuel and a great deal of foreign currency spent by the nation in importing that much fuel from the exporters,
the related CO2 that would have been emitted to the atmosphere will be saved and the reduction of freight
vehicles on the road will improve the flow of traffic on the route in reducing congestion and traffic accidents
on the highway that in turn enhance the traffic safety and comfort of the road users on the route. The freight
transport and logistics is still characterized having long time custom processing even if it is much better with
respect to previous times and also 57% of the customers questioned chose ‘uni-modal’ transport over the so
called “multimodal” transport. The new to be imported trucks by Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Service
Enterprise (ESLSE) may improve and increase the capacity of the freight vehicle carrying capacity to
Assessment of Freight Transport and Transportation Infrastructures along International Trade Route: China - Ethiopia
April 2015 Page 10
57ton/vehicle and also if the axle load limit is increased with 2ton/axle limit, there is going to be an
improvement on the vehicle operating cost. The joint command post at Modjo dry port may succeed in
reducing the congested number of containers and their dwell time on the port. The expansion projects in the
Djibouti port and exploring other alternatives in the nearby ports may benefit the nation in the international
trade. And also the full implementation of demurrage law and electronic cargo trucking system may enhance
the customs service on the international trade route. The state owned ESLSE being the only “multimodal”
transport operator (MTO) should work together with different private stake holders in addressing the issues
of customer’s complaint and for the common benefit of the nation
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Keywords
Road and Transport Engineering