Tunisia's ports the gateway to Africa.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)

REFORMS CENTRED ON the gradual integration of Tunisia into the world economy have contributed to making the country's economic results among the best in the region. Tunisia has one of the most successful business environments on the continent ranked by the Davos Forum's World Competitiveness Report (2007-2008) first in the Maghreb and in Africa, third in the Arab world, 32nd on the planet out of a total of 131 countries.

Tunisia's shipping activities and its geostrategic position continue to be important assets in the development of the country's commercial activity. The Tunisian port network consists of seven ports open to international trade, extending over 1,300km of coastline. Freight traffic reports show a 5% increase in overall traffic of cargo unloaded in Tunisian commercial ports, rising from 14,454 tonnes in 2005 to 15,235 tonnes in 2006, expected to increase in 2007.

With the coming into service of large container ships, the Tunisian coastline could prove ideal for transshipment between the European network and the southern Mediterranean countries. It should be remembered that Tunisia's trade with the European Union accounts for 80% of all of its foreign trade, and 97% of that is conducted by sea.

In order to become this hub of the central Mediterranean, the country launched in early 2007 a deep-water port project at Enfidha (Centre-East). This new port will be 17 metres deep and able to accommodate 80,000-tonne vessels.

This represents a real opportunity, given the large volumes passing through the central Mediterranean, where transshipment is estimated at 10.3m TEUs (a TEU is a "twenty foot equivalent unit" container of 30m3), compared with 6.6m in the western Mediterranean and 7.8m in the east.

The goal is therefore to make Tunisia an international high-value-added trade and services centre. Given the trade between Southeast Asia via the Suez Canal on the one hand and the Mediterranean on the other, Tunisia hopes to capture a flow of some 3m additional containers per year by the year 2020. Enfidha's overall traffic should be 250,000 TEUs in 2010, 335,000 TEUs in 2020 and 570,000 TEUs in 2030. Bulk traffic is expected to be 2.5m tonnes in 2010, 3.2m tonnes in 2020 and 4m tonnes in 2030.

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Processing the anticipated potential traffic will require a number of stages, starting with the building of 800 metres of wharves as well as two terminals. Ultimately, Enfidha will have 5,200 metres of wharves, making it one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean.

The site will also benefit from the creation of an economic and logistical activity zone which will serve as a centre for services, import-export trade and international road transit towards the countries of Africa. Some 1,000 hectares will be made available to economic operators. The Tunisian authorities have now granted this zone the Enfidha industrial zone special legal status designed to facilitate customs procedures and guarantee operational flow. Its true assets will be the new deep-water port and the new international airport, which will be created on a surface area of 5,700 hectares and is expected to be operational by 2010. The project has been awarded to a private company, Developpement Industriel Enfidha Tunisie (DIET), whose immediate objective is to create synergy between the new international airport, the port and the new tourism and recreational centres.

In line with the country's economic development requirements, the authorities introduced Bill 92-81 of 3 August 1992, to establish "Zones Franches', or free zones, in the same ports where the "economic activity parks" had been created.

The effort to upgrade the port sector will be strengthened with the construction of three new ports soon to be built in Tunis through three concessions, as follows:

--The first concession involves the BOT production and operation of a container terminal at Rades basin. The Tunisian government will develop a minimum of 16 hectares for the terminal in the first phase of the project.

--The second concession will involve a zone of 50 hectares at Rades port, for the production, financing and operation of a zone dedicated to logistical activities. The Tunisian government will make available to investors a port zone of 50 hectares.

--The third concession will be for the purpose of building and operating a cruise-ship terminal at the port of Tunis Goulette-Rades. This will take place through an association between a Tunisian partner operating in the shipping sector and an experienced foreign strategic partner.

These initiatives are part of Tunisia's efforts to attract foreign investors interested in Tunisia's location and wishing to take advantage of this confluence of land and sea trade routes between the two shores of the Mediterranean.