Ethio-Djibouti Railway enabled Ethiopia to save 2.4bln birr logistics expenditure in Past Year: CEO

Addis Ababa, August 25, 2022 (FBC) – Ethio-Djibouti Railway (EDR) disclosed that its cargo transport service enabled Ethiopia to save a 2.4 billion Birr logistics expenditure during the concluded fiscal year.

Ethio-Djibouti Railway Share Company CEO Abdi Zenebe told ENA that the train cargo and passengers transportation services being provided by the company has been increasing.

During the concluded Ethiopia fiscal year the company has  transported over 1.7 million tons of import-export cargoes on 71,000 containers, of which 14,000 are export.

Pointing out that 98 percent of the Ethiopian coffee has been transported to the international market through the Ethio-Djibouti train, the CEO said that the freight transport provided by the company has enabled Ethiopia to avoid 2.4 billion birr logistics cost in the past year.

“Its role is important and is expanding to different sectors. We, for instance, transported 98 percent of Ethiopia’s coffee export. It also indirectly reduced 2.4 billion birr logistics cost of the country this past year alone.”

The CEO noted that Ethio-Djibouti Railway Share Company is currently operating less than 35 percent of its capacity and it has plan and capacity to transport new cargo items soon, including fuel import.

“We are using less than 35 percent of the capacity; its operating capacity is expected to increase when we start transporting fuel soon. We signed deals to transport cars and we should also use the cement transportation in Ethiopia. These are part of our next 100 days tasks.”

Ethio-Djibouti Railway Share Company is playing a major role in strengthening people-to-people relations transporting over 155,000 passengers in the past year.

The electrified train transport is estimated to have avoided 61,000 ton of Carbon emission in the past year.

In terms of job creation, it has created jobs for 2,891 people, of whom 2,431 Ethiopians and 460 of them are Djibouti citizens.

Ethio-Djibouti Railway is a share company of Djiboutian and Ethiopian companies and the Ethio-Djibouti train transport started operation in 2018.