Temesgen, Busha (PhD)Asres, Sisay2020-12-162023-11-042020-12-162023-11-042020-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/24103Ethiopia is a landlocked country that depends on neighboring countries for all its import and export trade. Djibouti port is one of the major entry and exit of the internationally traded goods. In order to facilitate the international trade, the Ethiopian government has embarked on developing dry ports in the hinterland. Modjo dry port is one of these dry ports and accommodates the majority of imports to the country. This effort of expanding the dry port can be taken as an encouraging step towards facilitating trade, but assessing and improving the service providing process is crucial. Some reports indicated that the cargo clearance process within the dry port is impacted by different obstacles and led to an inefficient cargo clearance system. This study aimed at assessing the causes of import cargo inefficiency in Ethiopia, the case of Modjo dry port. The objective of the study is to assess the reasons for cargo clearance procedural inefficiency of Modjo dry port and employed an explanatory method and used a qualitative research approach. Primary data were collected by distributing 95 survey questionnaires and 83 questionnaires responded, which means 87 percent successfully returned back. The collected data were first described by descriptive statistics and further analyzed using inferential statistics and also employed a regression models. The result of the findings specifically related to the document requirement, traceability of cargoes, border clearance time, application of risk management, and coordination of border agency; which are the major causes of import cargo clearance inefficiency in Modjo dry port. These showed that importers incurred unnecessary costs and cargo delay. Some of these problems should be solved by the Ethiopian Customs Commission and others in conjunction with the Ethiopian Maritime Affairs Authority to accommodate the function of all operations at the dry port.en-USDry portimport, transit procedureclearance procedureoperatorsThesis