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Nile Logistics

Nile Logistics is Citadel Capital’s Platform Company in the regional logistics, river transport and port management sector. Nile Logistics encompasses three portfolio companies: Nile Cargo (previously known as National River Transportation Company); National River Port Management Company (NRPMC); and River Valley-Keer Marine.

Nile Cargo currently operates a fleet of 31 refurbished river barges and is building a further 62 custom designed state-of-the-art, fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly barges. Port manager NRPMC is building and operating a network of river ports at strategic locations along Egypt’s navigable waterways.

River Valley-Keer Marine (Nile Logistics’ arm in the underserved Sudanese market) operates a fleet of 21 barges and a port in Kosti, 300 km south of Khartoum. Nile Logistics acquired River Valley-Keer Marine in July 2009 in a deal that included the purchase of 21 multipurpose river barges and pushers and two strategic plots of land that are being developed into ports with storage facilities. The Sudanese assets will serve as the nucleus for a larger fleet of barges and for additional river ports.

Nile Logistics looks to capitalize on the region’s underdeveloped and underutilized river transport sector and provide seamless door-to-door service for industrial and agricultural producers and traders in Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Operational Developments
Nile Cargo began operations in May 2008 after winning an EGP 20 million (US$ 3.6 million) contract to transport 750,000 tons of coal and coke on the River Nile for Al-Nasr Company for Coke & Chemicals.

Nile Cargo’s first state-of-the-art barges will be operational by 2010, joining its 31 refurbished vessels already in service on the River Nile. Nile Cargo’s larger and more versatile barges — designed to meet the highest global standards by leading national and international consultants — will be built by Alexandria Shipyard and Arab Contractors Shipyard in Helwan. The new 100-meter barges will have a carrying capacity of 1,500-1,600 tons or 92 TEUs per barge.

In Alexandria, NRPMC holds an 81,000 square-meter plot of land on the Nubariya Canal half a kilometer south of the entrance to Alexandria Port and adjacent to the international coastal highway. NRPMC has reclaimed the land area and is now finalizing the foundation and civil works. In Tebbin (15 kilometers south of Cairo) NRPMC acquired a 55,373 sq.m plot and is designing the first phase of the port. In 2008, it won a public tender to rent a 27,500 sq.m. river port for a period of 15 years in Tanash, Imbaba.

At the end of 2009, both NRPMC and Nile Cargo had adopted more south-facing strategies. NRPMC has moved from a three port approach to a strategy that will emphasize smaller ports in a larger, nationwide network stretching into Upper Egypt. Nile Cargo is similarly targeting higher volumes and routes into the south of Egypt.

NRPMC completed construction of Tanash Port (North Cairo) with initial capacity of 1 million tons and 35,000 TEUs. Capacity will expand to 2 million tons and 110,000 TEUs. In February 2010 the company announced the inauguration of the Port and the start of a strategic five-year contract to transport up to 2 million tons of wheat annually along the River Nile for the General Company for Silos and Storage (GCSS).

NRPMC also intends to construct ports in Beni Suef (mid-2010), Minya (mid-2010), Assiut and Aswan. Already, plots in Minya and Beni Suef have been identified and licensing is underway.

Industry: Transportation and logistics
Investment date: September 2006
Investment type: Greenfield
Citadel Capital ownership: 25.0%