|
Page
4 of 4
Continued
instability has prevented any major real
advances in Port Sudan and neighbouring
ports, despite accords to improve road infrastructure
connections with the Northern Region of
Africa. While the crisis in Yemen continues
unabated, there have been no immediate impacts
on the trade lanes around the Horn of Africa,
with piracy well under control due to continuing
patrols of international naval forces.
However,
in Somalia there are concerns in recent
weeks after the Somalian port of Serka fell
into hands of Al-Shabaab militants as African
Union forces withdrew from several towns.
Al Shabaab has also been active on the main
highway connecting Lamu with Mombasa, with
several attempted kidnappings and attacks
on vehicles.
Tanger-Med
continues to earn its status as top performing
African port with its positive volume performance
in 2015, handling just under 3 million TEU.
The
port authority's recent acquisition of ISO14001
environmental certification to complement
its ISO9001 status confirms its continued
progress with further plans to expand with
the Tanger Med II port extension area.
In
further developments in Morocco, a high
speed rail network linking Tangier with
Casablanca will be targeted by mid-2018,
and a loan of EUR€200 million (US$2.18 million)
has been announced by the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
to finance the basic infrastructure for
a major new port and free zone on the Mediterranean
coast of Morocco in the city of Nador to
the East.
In
late June of last year a $2 billion dollar
plan to decongest port of Algiers with a
new greenfield site between Tenes and Cherchell
to the West of the capital was announced
by the Algerian authorities.
Plans
for a $500 million expansion plan of the
Oran container terminal is expected to be
finalised at the end of 2016, while DP World
has also committed to expanding its two
facilities in Algiers and Djen Djen.
In
early January the Tunisian authorities announced
cabinet approval for a new mega-port to
be constructed covering 2,000 acres with
23 docking quays with 20 metre draft and
eventual capacity for 25 million tonnes
of cargo. The port, which will be located
at El Hamdania, near the city of Cherchell,
is just under 100 kilometres west of the
city of Algiers.
To
further promote use of the Suez Canal, last
December authorities announced construction
of new five mile channel to Port Said by
the end of 2016 at a cost of $36 million.
This opened far ahead of schedule in February.
The
project will involve a channel with a draft
of 16 metre and enable improved vessel access
to the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT)
in Port Said, which with Phase II expansion
will increase the annual capacity to 5.4
million TEU making it the biggest terminal
in Africa.
This
will enable further transshipment traffic
to be added there in addition to local import/export
cargo.
To
further improve road access to trucks serving
Port Said, the trial reopening of Al Salam
Bridge in one direction (from Sinai) connecting
the northern Sinai Peninsula with the rest
of the country under military supervision
was announced in mid-January this year by
the authorities.
Page 1 2
3
4
|
