Port of Berbera (Dekada Berbera)

The short version

Berbera is a port town on the Gulf of Aden in Somaliland. Its port is the largest in Somaliland and a route for goods to and from Ethiopia. DP World, a company owned by the government of Dubai, holds a 30-year concession with an automatic 10-year extension, announced in September 2016 (CILT UK, September 2016). The federal government of Somalia does not recognise the arrangement (Garowe Online, 13 January 2026). For all four main Somali ports, see Somalia's seaports.

The Soviet period

In the 1970s the Soviet Union used Berbera as a naval support site. A US Defense Intelligence Estimate of 20 February 1976 described a "missile support facility under construction at Berbera" and a new airfield that it expected to become the main Soviet support site outside the USSR for Indian Ocean missions. It also said Soviet ships might get "secure and exclusive military berthing and repair facilities" apart from the commercial port (US Office of the Historian, FRUS 1969 to 1976, volume E-6, document 155). The runway later appears as Berbera Airport.

The DP World concession

• 2016: DP World announced the 30-year concession and a planned investment of up to $442 million, phased with traffic (CILT UK; Gulf News).
• March 2017: DP World Berbera began operations (DP World, 24 June 2021).
• 1 March 2018: Ethiopia agreed to take 19 percent. The shares then stood at DP World 51 percent, Somaliland 30 percent and Ethiopia 19 percent; before the deal DP World held 65 percent and Somaliland 35 percent (Khaleej Times).
• Early 2022: British International Investment, the UK's development finance body, joined as a minority investor through its Africa Gateway partnership with DP World (Consultancy.africa, 28 January 2026).

The 2021 container terminal

On 24 June 2021 Somaliland's president, Muse Bihi Abdi, and DP World's chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, opened a new terminal with a 400-metre quay, a 17-metre depth, three ship-to-shore cranes and eight yard cranes. Capacity rose from 150,000 to 500,000 TEU a year. A second phase is planned to lengthen the quay to 1,000 metres, add seven cranes and reach 2 million TEU. An Ethiopian delegation led by the finance and transport ministers attended (DP World, 24 June 2021).

Economic zone and the road to Ethiopia

At the same event, ground was broken for the Berbera Economic Zone, modelled on Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai and placed on the Berbera to Wajaale road. The upgrade of that road, the Berbera Corridor, was funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and the UK's Department for International Development. In May 2021 DP World and Ethiopia's transport ministry signed a memorandum on the Ethiopian side of the Addis Ababa to Berbera road (same source). See Ethiopia and Somaliland border trade.

Measured effects

An evaluation by Itad and Steward Redqueen for British International Investment, reported in January 2026, found (Consultancy.africa):

DP World's own figures, from 2021, were a 35 percent rise in volumes since 2017 and ship waiting times cut from four or five days to a few hours (DP World, 24 June 2021). Berbera is also the main port for live animal exports; see Livestock exports and Berbera livestock quarantine companies.

The 2026 dispute

On 12 January 2026 the federal government cancelled all agreements with the United Arab Emirates, including port arrangements at Berbera (Al Jazeera). DP World told Reuters that its Berbera operations continue under existing agreements and that it "remains focused on the safe, efficient operation of the port" (Garowe Online, 13 January 2026). Somaliland and Puntland said they stood by their cooperation with the UAE (Dawan Africa).

Sources disagree

• Ownership in 2016. One report gives DP World 65 percent and Somaliland 35 percent; others give 51 and 30 percent, the split after Ethiopia joined in 2018 (Khaleej Times; CILT UK).
• Legal standing. Somaliland calls the agreements valid; the federal government calls them void (sources above).