Djibouti President, Mr Ismail Omar Guelleh, officially launched the construction of the Damerjog livestock port in Arta district and the multipurpose Doraleh port recently. Construction of the two ports is being funded by the China Merchants Group.

The Damerjog port, in which some $ 70 million is being invested, will provide a terminal nearly 700 metres long which will be able to deal with up to five livestock ships at a time. It will also have a substantial transit area of five hectares to hold arriving cattle before they are loaded.

The traffic from the port is projected to reach 2 million heads of cattle in the first year. Damerjog will be exclusively dedicated to livestock exports which will originate from all around the region.

The new developments at the container port of Doraleh will provide multipurpose facilities to relieve the main Port of Djibouti at a total cost of $ 400 million, and include a four-km long quay with 15 berths to handle 29 million tonnes of cargo per year. The first phase will provide for seven berths, including a roll-on/roll-off facility and six docking stations to accommodate ships with cargo of up to 100,000 tonnes.(Source: Port Technology)