Djibouti has officially opened its new Doraleh Multipurpose Port, which is to serve as a key point of entry for imported goods, especially coming from Asia. This way, Djibouti enters the competition not only for regional maritime business centre but also for the starring role as the regional strategic logistical and trading hub. This role has been desired by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda especially, which have all invested heavily in logistics infrastructure in the recent past.
The new port, estimated to have cost $590 million, has a container terminal with a capacity of 200 000 TEUs, a break bulk terminal of six million tonnes per year and a bulk terminal of two million tonnes per year.