DP World has opened Rwanda’s first fully-fledged 500 sq m cold storage in Kigali, which is designed to help “pave the way” for growth in the country’s agricultural sector.
The aim is to help farmers who have been expanding their produce beyond tea and coffee to export a range of vegetables and fruits to the international market.
Jean-Bosco Songa, a vegetable export using DP World’s new facilities, said: “We believe that the new cold storage facility will dynamically assist Rwanda in promoting its exports for perishable goods to meet market demand while facilitating the market entry of new customers for our business through land and sea, as we were limited to air freight facilities in the past.”
DP World’s cold supply chain provides end-to-end transport, reducing cost and delivery time, and helping Rwandan imports and exporters.
The opening of the new facility follows on from the inauguration of the Kigali Logistics Platform in October 2019 which, through several road links, connects Rwanda to neighbouring landlocked countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Uganda.
Additionally, the platform is also connected to the Port of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.
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A representative of the company said: “DP World Kigali is a great solution for us as it provides end to end solutions in terms of transport from Dar Es Salaam/Mombasa to Kigali, Bonded Warehousing, cold storage and local delivery which eases our logistics by having one contact person for the overall operations as opposed to dealing with several agents.
“We have gained time and with the new service, our cold chain is guaranteed while we are waiting to open a shop in Kigali.”
The cold storage could also be beneficial for pharmaceutical companies as it would increase their import capabilities.
Sumeet Bhardwaj, CEO of DP World Kigali, said: “By providing cold supply chain solutions to meet the increased demand for moving fresh, perishable goods in Rwanda, DP World’s new facility will expand the operations of the Kigali Logistics Platform while enabling greater volumes of imports and imports across key sectors.”
The cold supply chain adheres to stringent global HSE standards and offers customers efficient and tailored options for their various storing needs.
To date, several local and multi-national companies have signed up to utilise the new cold storage.
DP World has plans to expand capacity to 1,000 sq m in 2021 to cater to larger volumes of cargo in the future and to support Rwanda’s economy.
The Kigali Logistics Platform is one of the biggest logistics hubs in East Africa, with an annual capacity of 50,000 teu and 19,000 sq m bonded warehousing capacity.
When operating at full capacity it has the potential to save Rwandan business up to US$50m a year in logistics costs.
