EACOP – the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project – has handed Bollore Logistics the lucrative main contract to provide logistics services for the US$3.4 billion Hoima- Tanga pipeline project.
The Infrastructure Magazine understands that Bollore Logistics came tops in a highly competed bid, to beat the other offers from German logistics giant DHL and another from global logistics outfit, Deugro – itself founded in Germany in 1924.
Sources say, the close to US$134 million logistics contract, was one of the most lucrative and sought after service contracts under EACOP, only second to the engineering and procurement one.
This Magazine further understands that Bollore Logistics wielded an advantage over the other two mainly because of its vast capacity and experience in Sub Saharan Africa on big infrastructure projects.
Bollore has a presence in 47 countries in Africa including Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, among others, while Deugro, for example, has a presence in only five African countries – including Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, Morocco and Uganda. In Uganda, Deugro lists its address as Plot 41 Nakasero Road while Bollore boasts a whole complex in Ntinda Industrial area, including warehouses, parking yard, among other infrastructure.
It is expected that EACOP will ship in cargo of close to one million tonnes – mainly equipment, machinery and materials. Under the EACOP logistics service contract, Bollore will be expected to process the paperwork in accordance with international freight laws and regulations, transport, warehouse and deliver the cargo to locations where they will be needed by EACOP (mostly Hoima and along the pipeline all the way to Tanga in Tanzania).
All the cargo will come through Dar es Salaam port.
Bolloré Logistics said the Main Logistics Contract (MLC) was awarded to an association of Bolloré Logistics entities in Europe, Uganda and Tanzania.
“The expertise of Bolloré Logistics worldwide will ensure efficient logistics operations from global origin locations to the main Project discharge port in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Thereafter the Project materials will be transported to multiple worksite locations in Tanzania and Uganda,” they said in a statement.
Bollore said, EALS Ltd., a joint venture entity registered in Tanzania, is included in the contractor association to ensure meaningful Local Content opportunities. The EALS Ltd. shareholders are Super-Star Forwarders (a major Tanzanian logistics provider) and Bolloré Transport & Logistics Tanzania. The EALS Ltd. structure and the existing Bolloré Transport & Logistics Uganda structure will maximise opportunities for Tanzanian and Ugandan subcontracting, employment and training at the highest international standards.
The EACOP project will construct a 1,443 Kilometre buried pipeline that will transport Uganda’s crude oil from Kabaale in Uganda to the Chongoleani peninsula on the Tanzanian coast. The project will include the world’s longest electrically heated pipeline which will be thermally insulated throughout the entire route. Above-ground pumping stations and pressure reduction stations will control the safe flow of oil within the pipeline.
The EACOP project will transport approximately 216,000 barrels of oil per day from Uganda’s reserves at the Albertine Graben (Lake Albert) to a Marine Storage & Terminal and a Load Out Facility, near to Tanga Port in Tanzania, where the crude oil will be exported worldwide by ocean-going tankers.
In early April (2022), this Magazine reported the sale of Bollore Africa business to Swiss freighter MSC. The report also said Bollore Africa’s business unit has been one of its most profitable.
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