Shipping Lines Charts Biggest-Ever Fleet Plan After Buying None Planned for the Year

Aug 1 , 2026. By NAHOM AYELE ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

The state-owned Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics (ESL) unveiled its most ambitious fleet plan yet last week, a push to add 16 vessels and lift the cargo it handles by 161pc through 2031. It did so having bought none of the six ships it had planned to buy this year. Senior executives blamed slow procurement, not a change of heart. The missed target still raises questions about how fast the state giant can deliver one of the largest expansions in its history.

The state-owned Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics (ESL) unveiled its most ambitious fleet plan yet last week, a push to add 16 vessels and lift the cargo it handles by 161pc through 2031.

The company did so having bought none of the six ships it had planned to buy this year. Its senior executives blamed slow procurement, not a change of heart. The missed target still raises a hard question over how fast the giant can deliver one of the largest expansions in its history.

"Nothing has stopped the project, and nothing has been abandoned," said Abdulber Shemsu, the Enterprise's chief executive officer (CEO). "The procurement process simply takes time."

The blueprint, unveiled at a media briefing at the Enterprise's headquarters on

Ras Mekonen Street in the La Gare area, runs from the current fiscal year to 2031. It would grow the fleet from 10 vessels to 26, and raise cargo handled to 18.4 million tonnes, nearly 161pc above tonnes moved in the year just ended.

Reaching that mark would mean handling more than two-and-a-half times today's volume within five years. Under the same plan, annual revenue would climb to 350 billion Br and foreign-exchange earnings to two billion dollars.

However, the execution record sits awkwardly beside that ambition. At the start of the year, ESL planned to buy six vessels, half of the cost expected from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). By the close of the year, not one had been bought. The plan has been the first big test for the new CEO.

Abdulber was appointed in October 2025 after leading the Ethiopian Maritime Authority (EMA), replacing Beriso Amalo (PhD), who had run the Enterprise for more than two years. A civil engineer by training, with a background in construction management and leadership, Abdulber has already reshuffled senior managers and pledged to clear operational bottlenecks.

His arrival came only weeks after the Enterprise drew criticism over the import of expired fertiliser last September, an episode that led to the arrests of several executives managing state-owned companies in the logistics sector on corruption charges. It also raised questions about oversight across a logistics chain the Enterprise increasingly dominates.

ESL booked 157.2 billion Br in revenue in 2025/26, about eight percent above target, with gross profit of 28.2 billion Br, moving 7.04 million tonnes of cargo.

Abdulber described the year as one of "strong operational achievements, sound financial performance and significant progress," despite the pressures on global shipping.

Non-containerised freight made up 71pc of the volume. Under the multimodal system, the Enterprise carried 94pc of Ethiopia's containerised import cargo. The year also marked its return to fuel transport after nearly two decades, moving 130,000tns of fuel and about two million tonnes of fertiliser.

The Enterprise owns and runs 10 multipurpose vessels with a combined carrying capacity of about 90,000tns. Its largest, the Abay II, carries nearly 63,000tns, with the remaining nine accounting for about 27,000tns.

"The new vessels will have much larger loading capacities," said Demsew Benti, the Enterprise's communications director. "They’ll strengthen our shipping capability.”

However, the Enterprise’s dependence on slot chartering has been plain in one figure. Ethiopia moves only about seven percent of its international cargo on ESL-owned ships. More than 90pc is transported on chartered vessels and slot carriers. The Enterprise chartered 47 vessels during the year to bridge the gap.

Beyond the sea, it runs eight dry ports, handled about 34,000 containers.

Closing that gap will demand one of the Enterprise's biggest investments in years. International market data show a new Ultramax bulk carrier above 60,000tns costs between 33 million dollars and 39 million dollars from major yards in Japan or China.

With shipyards booked for years, buyers pay a premium for prompt tonnage, and one- to three-year-old ships fetch between 38 million dollars and 44 million dollars. Older hulls come cheaper. A five-year-old Ultramax runs between 35 million dollars and 38 million dollars; a 10-year-old vessel between 26 million dollars and 29 million dollars; and, one past 15 years between 12 million dollars and 16 million dollars, depending on condition.

For all 16 ships, the bill is put at between 400 million dollars and 720 million dollars, with an industry average of 25 million dollars to 45 million dollars a vessel. The final figure will turn on the mix of new and second-hand tonnage, and of bulk carriers and container ships.

The Enterprise’s senior executives argue the spending is no longer a choice.

“More than 90pc of our cargo is currently transported using chartered vessels,” Demsew said. “We’re expected to build our own capacity. The effort has already begun, and we’re confident we will attain it."

Demsew disclosed that negotiations for acquiring some of the vessels are expected to conclude in September this year.

An industry voice frames the plan as necessary but demanding, calling it "commendable" even while doubting the timeline. Samuel Abebe, transport sector general manager at Abyssinia Trading Plc, with more than 15 years overseeing freight through the Port of Djibouti, called the fleet too small for the cargo ESL is mandated to move, a shortfall that slows movement and transhipment.

“The new acquisition could address many of these problems," Samuel told Fortune. "If the plan is successfully implemented, it could resolve many of the operational problems the Enterprise currently faces.”

However, he questioned the timing, pointing to the failure to buy any of the six ships planned for this year.

“I don’t expect all 16 ships to become operational within the timeframe they set out," he said.

Nonetheless, Sameul called the planned investment “unavoidable”, given that ESL requires importers and exporters to use its multimodal services while leaning heavily on chartered ships. He urged contingency plans able to sustain operations through instability, warning that the ongoing war in the Middle East had already disrupted cargo movement and weakened performance.

According to Abdulber, geopolitical instability from the Middle East war, which ran nearly six months, volatile fuel prices and congestion at major ports all weighed on operations.

The disruption tracked a wider shock, cutting Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz shipping routes sharply and lifting crude prices through the middle of 2026 before they eased.

"Despite these challenges, ESL maintained uninterrupted logistics services, safeguarded the country's strategic imports and continued supporting Ethiopia's economic development and trade competitiveness," Abdulber said.

Ethiopia imported 5.48 billion dollars of goods from China in 2024, nearly 32.6pc of a total import bill of 16.77 billion dollars. Imports and re-exports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ranged between 662 million dollars and 854 million dollars. For a landlocked economy that leans on a single corridor to the sea, reliable shipping capacity is a particularly binding constraint on trade costs, according to the World Bank Group.

PUBLISHED ON Aug 01,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1370]