Coal Terminal DevelopmentsOfficials of the Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise have complained that Ethiopian importers of steel have not been collecting their consignments from the Port of Djibouti, which meant that up to 200,000 tonnes of steel could be there at any one time awaiting pickup. One-hundred-and-eighty-thousand tonnes of the steel belonged to private importers, most of whom faced financial problems.
This unacceptable situation, claims the Enterprise, is resulting in congestion. However, this is disputed by the port authority, which says that it has additional capacity available for even more steel imports if necessary, up to a limit of 500,000 tonnes. Nevertheless, the Enterprise disputes this, pointing out that a lot of the steel at the port is now being stored close to the quayside because of a lack of space.