Somaliland’s Berbera Port on Monday received three new ship-to-shore container cranes – the first of their kind in the region.
The arrival of the STS cranes, according to the CEO of the Port Authority, Saeed Hassan Abdullahi, makes Berbera port ready to take up its role as a competent African hub for trade inbound to landlocked Africa and the region, in general.
The CEO said the cranes make the scheduled opening of the new face-lifted port a reality.
“The extension of the new port quay and filling up a yard which had been formerly left out to hold water is about to end rendering completion of new facilities to the port about 95% complete,” he said.
Berbera seaport, located along one of the busiest trade sea routes of the Gulf of Aden, has already received a full battery of eight rubber-tired gantry cranes from Liebherr as part of the development work the Dubai-based international ports manager, DP World, has financed.
DP World and the republic of Somaliland signed a 30-year contract in 2017 to develop and manage the key Red Sea port of Berbera.
Liebherr signed a deal with DP World in March 2020, to supply Berbera Port with the eight RTG cranes that have now arrived.
Previously, Berbera Port had three Liebherr LHM 420 mobile harbor cranes.
The arrival of these cranes puts the Berbera port in direct competition with other ports in the region and will triple the port’s container handling capacity from 170,000 to 450,000 containers per year whilst significantly increasing the average unloading rate of cargo.
It is anticipated that an increase in the port’s handling will have a major impact on Somaliland’s economy.
