Ethiopia: private sector may be the key to transforming its logistics

© Khunaspix Dreamstime.

The challenges of being a landlocked nation are, possibly, felt nowhere as keenly as in Ethiopia: a vast, fertile export-orientated nation that has to rely on the ports of Djibouti or Mombasa for maritime imports brought in by trucks on substandard roads. And there is mounting evidence that the number of trucks available to service Ethiopia’s import demand is declining – evidenced by “the continuous shortage of consumables attributed to logistics problems”. This editorial criticises the Ethiopian government for its piecemeal approach to the country’s numerous supply chain problems, and although it praises it for its willingness to tackle the issues, suggests a much more effective solution would be to bring in the private sector