Ethiopian Shipping Lines

Ethiopia regained a coastline on the Red Sea when Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia in 1952. However, it was not until 1965 that the Ethiopian Shipping Lines was established as a joint venture with the American company Towers Perrin. A Dutch company was contracted to manage the line along the lines of the then-ongoing arrangement with TWA to manage the flag carrier airline Ethiopian Airlines.

Operations commenced in 1966 with three ships called Queen of Sheba, Lion of Judah and Lalibela. The line quickly faced serious challenges when the Suez Canal was closed in 1967. When Suez Canal was closed, the vessels had to go all around the Cape. The size of the vessels were not appropriate for such long voyages, and the line ran into a loss. Since then, the ESL has focused mainly on the designated line of import and export, so as to promote foreign trade. It has generally been profitable.[1]