Coronavirus: Berbera Port in Somalia anchors WFP’s East Africa operations
World Food Programme maintains the reach of its critical assistance to countries such as Ethiopia and South Sudan
Life as we knew it came to a halt with coronavirus, but the logistics teams enabling the World Food Programme (WFP) to deliver life-saving assistance across the world kept going in spite of bottlenecks in supply chains and access restrictions caused by the closing of shops, services and borders.
Take the port of Berbera in Somalia, through which flow supplies for WFP operations in Ethiopia and South Sudan. WFP’s team succeeded in keeping operations at the port running smoothly, ensuring the organization’s efforts to save and change lives could continue uninterrupted.
Since March, over 130,000 metric tons of assorted WFP food commodities have been received at the port — the weight of 13 Eiffel Towers; staples such as rice, wheat, pulses, vegetable oils and maize.
Most of this food — almost 65 percent — is dispatched to the eastern regions of Ethiopia, a particularly vulnerable area prone to devastating climate shocks. Last year, over 150,000 metric tons of food for Ethiopia alone passed through Berbera port.
Over the past few months, Berbera’s handled the bulk of the cargo destined for WFP’s East Africa operations — over twice as much as was handled through WFP’s port operation in Mombasa, Kenya.
“The fact that food is medicine cannot be underestimated,” says Frederick Asamoa, WFP’s Head of Office in Berbera. “Much of the response operations for COVID-19 have focused on getting medical supplies into countries, and while this is of course very important, people need to eat to be strong and to boost their immunity against the virus.”
Port jobs are by no means easy. A regular day at work might involve first coordinating the bagging of the food that arrives loose on massive ships.
Huge cranes scoop up bulk (unpackaged) cargo that they transfer into bagging machines. Bags are stitched, loaded onto trucks and shunted to warehouses for storage, or straight on to destinations in Ethiopia or South Sudan.
Working closely with WFP colleagues in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, the team at Berbera overcame a wave of challenges, such as the lack of transport and other limitations related to the pandemic.
“One major challenge was the shortage of trucks to load up the cargo we received,” says Shuib Hassan, WFP Logistics Associate in Berbera.
He adds: “This required a lot of on-the-spot fast action on the ground. Logistics is very practical — issuing waybills, stacking and counting of cargo, loading and off-loading … it was always hands-on and full-speed ahead, which could get sometimes get tricky with so many COVID-19 protocols to observe.”
The logistics team is made up of ten WFP staff — four dedicated to port operations and six to the warehouses.
Protocols ensure health and safety vigilance — shifts are organized with that mind. Radios and SIM cards have been provided to ensure fluid communications.
Did the team need motivating during this challenging time? “Certainly not,” responded Shuib. “Our teamwork boosted everyone’s morale — it was the team’s mission to deliver that kept them going.”
