THE Director-General of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Mr Deusdedit Kakoko, was in Uganda late last week where he explained to potential customers of Tanzanian ports why they should be their preferred choice, particularly after implementation of major changes to boost capacity and efficiency.
Last year, Tanzania kicked off a 593 million US dollarupgrade of Dar es Salaam Port involving financing by both bilateral and multilateral donors to increase capacity and efficiency that had been so low leading to underperformance which saw it losing key business to rivals.
Alongside the expansion work, the TPA has made significant improvement in human resource capital, technology, facilities both in systems infrastructure and machinery and electronic cargo management systems.
It has also improved security to the highest level by installing a state-of-the-art integrated security system (ISS), which includes fixing CCTV cameras at various points around the port.
Gone are the days when ships were forced to wait to dock for many days. Docking days have been lowered to international standards and the port can now handle large vessels. Last month, the port handled MV Hammonia Grenada cargo ship, which is described as the longest vessel to dock at the port.
It also handled MSC Martina, one of the largest container vessels of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, with an overall length of 244 metres and width of 32.2 metres and carrying capacity of 2,411 containers.
The two docked without any problem and that reflected the ability of the port to handle large vessels. Dar es Salaam is Tanzania’s principal port that handles about 95 per cent of Tanzania’s international trade.
The port serves the landlocked countries of Malawi, Zambia, DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. It is obvious, therefore, that constraints at the port caused major problems not only to the country but also to our neighbours.
The good thing is that with the expansion of the port and improved capacity and efficiency, we see Dar es Salaam Port mounting serious challenge to the rivals by reclaiming businesses it had lost to them.
We hope that TPA has been able to overcome its challenges and become a more popular stop for big vessels and the most preferred regional gateway for traders from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo who will make use of improved transport network the central corridor.
Source: Daily News

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