FOLLOWING President John Magufuli’s directives to strengthen trade between Tanzania and Malawi, a focal team has embarked on a mission to restore its market share.

During his two-day visit in Malawi on April 24, this year, President Magufuli directed Tanzania Port Authority (TPA), together with other stakeholders to address challenges facing the Malawian business community.

The team, which arrived in Mbeya yesterday, travelled from Dar es Salaam via Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara), to inspect the railway line to see whether it could be used as an alternative to reduce the number of days for Malawian cargoes.

The team includes members from TPA, Tazara, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Tanzania Truck Owners Association (Tatoa), Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (Taffa), Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (Ticts), Dar es Salaam Corridor Group (DCG) and Malawi Cargo Centre Limited (MCCL).

Speaking after an indoor meeting, Tatoa chairperson, who doubles as the team leader, Ms Angelina Ngalula, said Tanzania and Malawi had a long history.

Therefore, it was high time for the two countries started benefiting more from their bilateral relations.

Ms Ngalula commended President Magufuli’s move for securing the market for Tanzanians outside the country during his state visit and urged Tanzanians to utilise opportunities available in neighbouring countries.

“Following the President’s directives we decided to act promptly. We formed a team that will work on all challenges facing the Malawian business community to ensure we encourage them to use our ports.”

“We visited the Malawian dry port here in Mbeya to inspect the equipment and facilities they have to ensure cargoes leave quickly through Tazara from Dar es Salaam Port in a few days and from here they will be loaded on trucks to Malawi, which is just a few kilometres compared to Dar es Salaam,” she explained.

Expounding on this, she said Malawi, a transit segment of Dar es Salaam Port was one of the transit market segments in the region, but Tanzania had yet to fully utilise the market as it only handled 311,138 metric tonnes of cargo out of 1 million metric tonnes handled by other ports.

“Tanzania has a geographical advantage and what is needed is for us, stakeholders, to ensure all challenges are addressed, including taxes and charges to attract the business community from Malawi to ensure the efforts made by the President don’t go in vain,” she advised.

For her part, TPA Marketing and Public Relations Director Francisca Muindi revealed that the port targeted to increase its market share in the Malawian market to 50 per cent and assured all businesspeople of safety and timely delivery as the port was being expanded.

With the ongoing expansion, according to her, Dar es Salaam Port will be able to handle big ships of up to 30-50 tonnes and assured customers that the port was well equipped to handle any amount of cargo consignment.

“Stakeholders in Tanzania have noted an urgent need for Dar es Salaam Port to enhance its visibility in the Malawian market segment.The available connectivity through Tazara Corridor by rail and road modes of transport and Lake Nyasa Port enables Dar es Salaam Port to get more cargo traffic from this landlocked country,” she said.

Ms Muindi called upon other stakeholders in the chain to ensure the cargo traffic was cleared on time to reduce unnecessary charges customers bore, which were among the challenges facing them.

Source Daily News

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