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Losing its coast has not stopped Ethiopia developing its shipping
失去海岸綫并未使埃塞俄比亞停止其海運的發展
ETHIOPIA became landlocked in 1992,
1992年，厄立特里亞國新成立，
when its Red Sea coast was lost to the new state of Eritrea.
從埃塞俄比亞手中取得紅海海岸，使埃塞俄比亞變成了內陸國家。
It lost access to its former ports soon afterwards.
隨后埃塞俄比亞失去了進入那些曾經屬于它的港口的權力。
Since the outbreak of a vicious two-year war between the two countries in 1998,
后兩國又爆發了一場持續兩年的惡戰，
the Red Sea ports of Massawa and Assab have been off-limits to Ethiopian freight.
馬薩瓦和阿薩布在紅海岸的港口均已禁止埃塞俄比亞進行貨運。
Instead, Ethiopia has to rely on Djibouti for imports and exports. That comes at a heavy price:
相反的，埃塞俄比亞開始依賴吉布提國進行進出口的貿易。
it costs more to truck a container from Djibouti to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, than to ship the same container from China to Djibouti.
然而這一舉措帶來了高昂的價格：同一個貨物，從吉布提運輸一個集裝箱到亞的斯亞貝巴的成本，遠比其從中國運到吉布提要高。
But losing the coastline has not scuppered Ethiopia's merchant fleet.
失去海岸線并未使埃塞俄比亞的商船隊遭到重創。
The state-owned Ethiopian Shipping Lines has eight ships afloat and nine under construction in China.
埃塞俄比亞本身擁有的運輸線有8條貨船處于運輸狀態，同時還有9條尚在中國建造中。
That is modest compared with the armadas of the biggest shipping firms.
這一規模堪比世界上最大的海運線—西班牙無敵艦隊。
But having any sort of ocean-going capability is good for national pride.
只要擁有任何程度上遠航能力都可以提升民族自豪感。
At ESL's Addis headquarters, complete with portholes and model ships, the outgoing boss, Ambachew Abraha, remembers proudly his days as an engineer aboard the freighter Queen of Sheba.
在ESL艾締思的總部，裝飾有舷窗和模型船，ESL的總裁埃姆拜初 阿布拉哈自豪地回憶其在示巴女王貨輪上作為一名工程師的日子。
She was a real beauty, he says. With her I sailed to Rotterdam, Hull, Middlesborough.
她是真正的美，他回憶道，我隨她出航到鹿特丹港市，赫爾，米德爾斯堡。
Mr Abraha was recently replaced as part of a shake-up of the company, which has seen a portfolio of state-owned transit and warehousing facilities added to it.
阿布拉哈以國有運輸和倉儲設備等組合投資取代了部分公司的重大結構。
The aim is to offset the high freight costs Ethiopian businesses pay by streamlining the entire transport process.
目的是消除埃塞俄比亞商業中整個流水線運輸過程支付所支付的高昂的運輸成本。
A new railway is planned from Djibouti to Addis,
一條新的鐵路運線將在吉布提到艾締思，
and dry ports inside Ethiopia will allow goods to pass more quickly out of Djibouti, cutting the price of storage and customs.
以及埃塞俄比亞境內的各陸港之間建立，以便貨物更快運離吉布提，從而減少減少倉儲和海關費用。
Last year ESL made a profit of $40m.
上一年度ESL創造了4000萬美金的利潤。
The new umbrella company looks likely to do even better.
這個新的傘型運線公司看起來似乎做得更好。
But a lot depends on Ethiopia getting more access to blue water.
但是更多地依靠于埃塞俄比亞取得了更多通往海洋的道路。
Its trade officials plan to do more business via the port of Berbera in Somaliland,
ESL的貿易官員計劃通過在索馬里蘭的柏培拉港口進行更多的貿易，
a mostly unrecognised breakaway from Somalia, and with Port Sudan in Sudan.
一條來源索馬里的未知道路，以及蘇丹的蘇丹港。
They are also cheered by a Kenyan plan to build a super-port at Lamu, a Swahili fishing-town near Kenya's border with Somalia.
他們計劃在拉姆建造超級港口，一個斯瓦西里漁鎮，在肯尼亞靠索馬里方向的邊境附近，因此得到了肯尼亞人的熱烈支持。
A new road and railway would connect Lamu with Ethiopia and head on to South Sudan and possibly Uganda.
一條嶄新的馬路和鐵路將連接拉姆和埃塞俄比亞，直通南蘇丹，甚至烏干達。
It might also reduce the risk of Ethiopian vessels being captured by Somali pirates.
這也許將減少埃塞俄比亞遭到索馬里海盜打劫的風險。
They have so far escaped that fate, perhaps because the pirates fear that the Ethiopians would launch a swift and bloody reprisal.
他們一直以來都不曾遭到這樣的厄運，大概海盜們擔心埃塞俄比亞會發起一場迅速血腥的報復。
But for all shippers, the threat of Somali piracy has nonetheless pushed up insurance costs and forced vessels to make expensive detours.
但是對于所有的運貨商來說，索馬里海盜的威脅依舊增加了保險成本，并且船只被迫地進行昂貴的繞道航行。
ESL handles 45% of Ethiopia's shipping.
ESL占有了埃塞俄比亞45%的海運。
Most of this is on the company's own vessels,
大部分來自于公司自有的船只，
but some space is bought from other shipping lines.
僅一部分是從其他航線購買的。
China is financing ESL's new vessels, which will have improved cranes and holds for handling more complex cargoes,
中國提供了ESL的新貨輪建造經費，這些貨輪擁有先進的起重設備，并且可用于處理更加復雜的貨物，
such as the colossal turbines needed to build Ethiopia's new hydroelectric dams.
比如建造埃塞俄比亞新的水電站所需要的巨型渦輪。
Many of ESL's ships leave Africa emptier than when they arrived, but that is changing.
許多ESL的船只離開非洲時比他們剛到達時要空許多，但是這在改變。
The shipping company hopes to increase its exports of coffee, grain, minerals, leather and textiles.
航運公司希望增加其咖啡，糧食，礦產，皮革及防治的出口。
Ethiopia's maritime ambitions are not limited to ESL.
埃塞俄比亞的海事雄心并不只局限于ESL公司。
A school for sailors has been set up at a university in the lakeside town of Bahir Dar.
在巴希爾達鎮的湖邊，一所大學設立了培養水手的學院。
It has ambitions to train 5,000 ship's engineers and other officers for the world's fleets within the next decade—providing low-cost competition for Sri Lankan and Filipino sailors.
它立志于在未來十年為全世界的船只培養5000艘船只的工程師及其他方面的海事官員—與斯里蘭卡和菲律賓的水手形成低成本的競爭。
The government reckons these sailors could send home $250m a year in salaries.
改過政府預計這些水手將每年從薪水中抽2500萬美金寄回家。
They would also return, as Mr Abraha has, with valuable skills and a hankering for the briny unusual in a landlocked country.
他們將來也會回歸，正如阿布拉哈一樣，帶著寶貴的技術，以及異于陸路國家的對于大海的追求。
