DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – Dar port has overtaken Kenya’s Mombasa in terms of handling Rwandan cargo and that destined for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) writes LEONARD MAGOMBA

Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) which manages all port in the country said that last year (2014), Mombasa port handled 235,912 tonnes of Rwandan cargo which is 33% of the cargo handled by Dar es Salaam port.

In contrast Dar handled 630,000 mts. The acting Director General of TPA, Mr Awadh Massawe told Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and his host Dr. Jakaya Kikwete when they visited Dar es Salaam port.

“As a matter of comparison during the year 2014, Mombasa port handled 235,912mts of cargo to Rwanda which is 33% of cargo handled by Dar es Salaam port which was 630,000mts of cargo for the same endpoint,” Massawe said.

On the other hand, Massawe said cargo to the DRC which passes through Mombasa port during the same period was 407,727 mts which was 15% of the cargo handled by Dar port.

The port currently handles 1,577,000 mts of cargo for the same destination. “This shows the importance of Dar es Salaam port and the central corridor to the neighbouring countries,” he said.

The TPA chief said for the past five years, Dar es Salaam port throughput has continued to increase at an average rate of 12.8% per annum.

Last year the port handled 14.6 million mts including 621,000 containers. “Out of cargo handled, transit cargo averaged 34% which was 5.020 million mts in 2014,” he said.

According to Massawe, the quality of service delivery to customers has continued to improve.

“Dwell time for import containers has improved to nine days at the end of February 2015 compared to 20 days way back in February 2008,” he said.

Ship waiting time at outer anchourage is now 1.5 days compared to 3.2 days in 2013 as ship turn-round time is 3 days compared to 5.6 days in 2013 while in Mombasa port ship turn-round time is 3.5 days. He said the rate of motor vehicles discharged per shift has improved from 800 units in 2013 to 826 units in 2014.

Source: East Africa Business Week

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.