Horn & North East Africa
Cargo to and from Ethiopia
Africa's largest landlocked economy, moving almost all of its trade through one corridor.
Ethiopia is the largest landlocked economy on the continent and almost everything it imports arrives through Djibouti, roughly 850 km from Addis Ababa. That concentration cuts both ways: the corridor is well developed, with a standard gauge railway alongside the road, and it is also a single point of pressure that the whole country's supply chain feels when it slows.
The other thing worth knowing about Ethiopian cargo is that the border is not where clearance happens. Most containers are cleared inland at Modjo dry port, which means the transit leg from Djibouti runs under bond and the formalities land well after the cargo has entered the country. Getting that sequencing right is most of the job.
At a glance
- Djibouti
- gateway port
- 850 km
- Djibouti to Addis Ababa
- Rail
- alternative to road on this corridor
- Modjo
- principal inland clearance point
How cargo reaches Ethiopia
Principal routing
- Port of Djibouti
- Galafi or Dewele border
- Modjo dry port
- Addis Ababa
By rail
- Port of Djibouti
- Addis Ababa to Djibouti railway
- Modjo or Addis Ababa
We don’t publish transit times against a route. Distance and corridor are geography; what a specific container takes depends on the border, the season and the vessel. Ask us and we’ll commit to a timing against your actual shipment.
Destinations we deliver to
Border posts on these routes
What moves on this lane
The commodities that dominate Ethiopia’s containerised trade, and what we are most often asked to handle.
Inbound to Ethiopia
- Fertiliser and agricultural inputs
- Fuel and petroleum products
- Machinery and industrial plant
- Wheat and food commodities
Outbound from Ethiopia
- Coffee
- Sesame and oilseeds
- Garments and textiles
- Cut flowers, under reefer
What we handle for Ethiopia
Britex has presence and yards across the thirteen countries we cover. The same six services apply on this lane as on every other.
Also in Horn & North East Africa
Moving cargo to Ethiopia?
Tell us the destination and what’s in the box, and we’ll come back with the routing and what it takes to get there.