Region
Port of Mogadishu (Dekadda Muqdisho)
The Port of Mogadishu is Somalia's largest harbour and the main sea gate for the south and centre. Italy built the modern port in the late 1920s, adding a breakwater in 1930. After war damage, the Turkish company Albayrak took over management in September 2014 under a deal giving the government 55% of revenue and Albayrak 45%, with an $80 million modernisation plan.
At a glance
- What: Somalia's largest harbour, classed as a major port (Wikipedia, Port of Mogadishu).
- Code: UN/LOCODE SO MGQ (UNECE, Somalia locations).
- Operator: the Turkish company Albayrak, since September 2014 (Diplomat.so, September 2014).
- Website: portofmogadishu.com.
- For the country's other ports and the 2026 dispute over UAE port deals, see Somalia's seaports.
From Sarapion to the Italian port
Greek and Roman writers record a trading place called Sarapion on this coast; see Greek and Roman writers on the Somali coast. Wikipedia states that the medieval harbour was small, and that the first works toward a modern port came after the Italians arrived in 1890 (Wikipedia).
The Italian colonial government built the modern Porto di Mogadiscio, with warehouses and docks, in the late 1920s. In 1930 a protective dike with breakwaters was built in front of the enlarged harbour, which was linked inland by rail and by an "imperial road" toward Addis Ababa (same source; Il Corno d'Africa). In 1934 the port exported 43,467 tonnes of farm produce, mainly bananas, to Italy and Europe, carried by the refrigerated "RAMB" ships of the Royal Banana Monopoly. From 1936 Lloyd Triestino and Italian Line ran a weekly passenger service to Massawa and Genoa. British bombing damaged the port in 1941 (same Wikipedia article). See Sesame and bananas and Railways in Somalia.
The Republic
In the 1960s the port was improved following studies by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Wikipedia). The port was damaged during the civil war that began in 1991 (same source).
Rebuilding since 2013
- June 2013: under the federal Mogadishu Port Rehabilitation Project, the director of the Port of Djibouti and Chinese reconstruction officials visited the port; port manager Abdullahi Ali Nur said they were briefed for the planning stage (Sabahi, June 2013).
- 2013: the port management reportedly agreed with the Dubai firm Simatech Shipping to run a Mogadishu Port Container Terminal (Wikipedia).
- October 2013: the federal cabinet approved a five-year agreement for Albayrak to manage, rebuild and modernise the port. In April 2014 the Federal Parliament postponed approval until a new foreign investment law passed, and asked that port workers' interests be protected (Garowe Online, April 2014).
- September 2014: the government handed management to Albayrak. Albayrak's head, Ahmed Salim, said 55% of port revenue would go to the government and 45% to the company; transport minister Yussuf Maolim Amin said the deal should double government income from the port. The modernisation was costed at $80 million, and in its first month the port earned $2.7 million in service revenue (Wikipedia; Diplomat.so).
- November 2014: transport minister Said Jama Mohamed launched a reform of road haulage from the port with the transport unions (Goobjoog).
- 2015: African Shipping Line registered as a ship and container agent at the port, offering feeder services to Mogadishu, Kismayo, Bosaso and Berbera (Wikipedia).
Anadolu Agency reported in September 2025 that Albayrak still runs and modernises the port (Anadolu Agency). The Auditor General's figures for the operator's payments are on Foreign companies in Somalia.
Related
- Aden Adde International Airport, beside the port
- Mogadishu's economy
- Somalia and Turkey
Sources
- Wikipedia, Port of Mogadishu · en.wikipedia.org
- UNECE, Somalia locations · service.unece.org
- Diplomat.so, September 2014 · web.archive.org
- portofmogadishu.com · portofmogadishu.com
- Il Corno d'Africa · ilcornodafrica.it
- Sabahi, June 2013 · web.archive.org
- Garowe Online, April 2014 · web.archive.org
- Goobjoog · web.archive.org
- Anadolu Agency · aa.com.tr
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Where this matters
Same era
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- DjiboutiAbout 13,900 refugees from Somalia live in Djibouti (Aug 2026): numbers since 1990, Ali Addeh, Holl-Holl, the 2017 refugee law, Arta 2000 and 2025 returns.
Keep reading
- Port of Berbera (Dekedda Berbera)Port of Berbera: the 1962 Soviet agreement, the DP World concession of 2016, the shareholding changes, the 2021 container terminal, cargo figures from the World Bank, and the Berbera Corridor to Ethiopia.
- Port of Bosaso (Dekedda Boosaaso)Port of Bosaso: the 1980s livestock port, the 2012 clean-up, the 2017 P&O Ports concession, the 2022 DP World expansion deal, the 2019 attack, and the road to Garowe.
- Port of Djibouti and DoralehPort of Djibouti and Doraleh: history since 1917, Ethiopian trade, foreign naval bases, the 2018 DP World dispute and new ports at Doraleh and Damerjog.