Egypt Minister of Transport Announces Soft Opening of October Dry Port

The Egyptian Minister of Transport, Kamel Al-Wazir has announced the soft opening of “October Dry Port” as the first dry port in Egypt located in the new 6th of October City.

The project is the first of its kind under public private partnership comprises of:

Ministry of Transportation represented by the General Authority for Land and Dry Ports, and a consortium of ELSEWEDY ELECTRIC, and DB Schenker, represented by October Dry Port Company, in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

It aims at providing a model for an integrated port facility operating according to the latest global digital systems in Egypt.

The soft opening of the October Dry Port coincides with the COP27, hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh, and comes as part of state plans to consolidate cooperation with the private sector, to launch smart, green, and sustainable cities.

October Dry Port is located in the industrial and logistical zone of the new 6th of October City, stretching over an area of ​​100 acres, located 25 kilometers west of the existing industrial zone on the Bahariya Oasis Road with access to regional ring road.

It is also connected through Egyptian national railway network (ENR) with Egyptian seaports, to serve all Egyptian ports specially Alexandria port with its 2 sectors Alexandria and Dekheila and reduce the pressure on roads.

The dry port stretches over an area of 420,000 sq mtrs, with a maximum capacity of 720,000 TEU. This area is divided into storage areas for imports, exports, customs inspections, and buildings for all the authorities represented in the port.

The port additionally provides specialized labs affiliated to the General Organization for Export and Import Control and the Food Safety Authority as well as a reefer container yard equipped with 132 reefer plugs, a dedicated area for out of gauge containers with over dimensions.

It also has five railway tracks for loading and unloading of trains, with plans to increase the equipment for the second phase within 5 years.

The October Dry Port operation will also provide additional logistics services and is forecasted to reduce truck congestion on main roads and road accidents.

The port will also reduce the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the traffic of heavy trucks on roads, as the dry port will be connected with sea ports via railway, achieving a significant reduction in the carbon emissions.

Eng. Ahmed El Sewedy, ELSEWEDY ELECTRIC President & CEO, stated: “The project comes within a number of steps taken to enhance the investment environment and drive economic development by facilitating and accelerating the movement of goods and businesses in the region."

Meanwhile, Amr Mansour, Managing Director of the October Dry Port Company, said: "The project is a breakthrough in multimodal transport moods It is an extension of the country’s seaports that aims to speed up the flow of goods by connection through railway network."