Freight forwarders at Dar es Salaam Port have voiced their anger at port operator, Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS), over ‘sluggish’ container handling. The Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (TAFFA) has accused TICTS of causing unnecessary delays at Dar es Salaam, as well as the container deports at Kurasini and Unbungo, citing increasing storage charges due to the delays in physical verification of cargo and a lack of banking facilities at TICTS offices at the port. Speaking to AllAfrica, Tony Swai, Secretary General at TAFFA, said: "To have your cargo for verification alone can take at least three days while you only have seven days as grace period to clear your cargo, something, which leads us to incur storage charges, "If they are overwhelmed by the backlog due to limited space why don't they surrender some of the consignments to be stored within the port instead of embracing monopoly?" Meanwhile, Jared Zerbe, CEO of TICTS rejected the claims, saying congestion was caused by an threefold increase in bookings and the assurance that soon banking facilities at the port would be unnecessary as the process was soon to be completely automated. Two new ship-to-shore cranes which are due to be commissioned by the end of the year, could help to ease the delays currently being experienced. Source: Port Technnology

Single Electronic Window: The new system will see a 30% reduction in transaction costs for the private sector Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has launched the Uganda Single Electronic Window system. The new system will see a 30% reduction in transaction costs for the private sector, writes Juddie Kilungu. It will also reduce the average trade document processing time by 30% as it allows people involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents in a single entry point to fulfill all import, export and transit related regulatory requirements. These documents include custom declarations, trading invoices, applications for import and export permits and certificate of origins. The system reduces cargo clearance time by a factor of 5 and potentially leads to increases in collection of custom duties and taxes. Business people will now be able to submit documents to different regulatory agencies through a single port compared to the previous practice of moving from one place to another. The system will also reduce on paper work since business people will have to submit their papers online. It is also supported by a tracking system which monitors cargo from the point of entry to destination which avoids dumping and theft. The US$5 million project has been implemented by Trademark East Africa, a trade improvement agency and supported by DFID and DANIDA; the development arms of the British government and Royal Danish embassy respectively. At the launch (UeSW), at the URA main offices at Nakawa on Nov. 04, URA Commissioner General Doris...

TANZANIA, will benefit from a 12bn/- support (5.3 million US dollars) from TradeMark Africa (TMA) to empower women entrepreneurs to access the East African Community and international markets. The commitment was made by the TradeMark Africa, Country Director, Mr John Ulanga during a Validation Workshop for a Baseline Survey that was conducted to ascertain status of Tanzania women traders export to EAC region at Dar es Salaam over the week end. Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce (TWCCIA) will get 500m/-out of the funds to support them run their activities, he said. Mr Ulanga said, TMA Women and Trade (WaT) programme seeks to increase incomes and improve livelihoods for women traders and women-owned enterprises through capacity building, addressing trade barriers and advocacy for policies that will create an enabling environment for them to thrive. He said a recent survey has shown 70 per cent of crossborder business is done by women traders, but for a long time, they have been facing geographical, gender, financial, and legal obstacles. The government and Private Sector need to jointly show their recognition of women’s labour by providing a fair and conducive environment for them to trade, he said. “It is therefore important to continually advocate for balanced frameworks and policy change that will nurture the growth of women in cross border trading,” he said. He further said, TMA’s Women and Trade (WaT) programmes seek to use existing infrastructure to implement and roll out the various interventions focusing on women informal cross border traders. Women’s inclusion...

Ambassador Joseph Ayok Anei, Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, says that his government has signed an agreement to create one-stop border crossings between South Sudan and Uganda. Speaking on Monday at a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ayok said the agreement was signed on 8 November in order to simplify and expedite border controls. “We want to brief you about the agreement I have signed in Kampala, Uganda on behalf of the government of South Sudan on the issue of one-stop border post between our country and Republic of Uganda which took place last week,” he said. “The areas of which we are going to cooperate are also to enhance the development in our own country here such as standard development and provision of testing equipment to the bureau of standards of the both countries,” he said. “Also to enhance women trade program to promote inclusivity and equality between women and men, that means small business like those who are selling banners or vegetable will empower them and make life easy for them to cross the border,” Ayok added. He further said the agreement aimed at sharing each other’s existing border control infrastructure and facilitates thereby enabling border control officers of each partner state to perform statutory border control outside their national territory. The deal was witnessed by officials from both ministries of foreign affairs was facilitated by the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the support from Trademark East Africa. Source: Radio Tamazuj

THE Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr Charles Tizeba, has said all licensed ships fishing in the country's territorial water will be discharging their cargo at the Dar es Salaam Port effective next month. Apparently, the government has suspended temporarily licensing of fishing ships to allow expansion of a docking place at the port where all fish products will be discharged. According to the minister, the decision is in line with enabling the current licensed vessels offload their cargo and alternatively increase availability of the product in the local markets. Dr Tizeba said this during a visit at the port yesterday to observe preparations for allowing large fishing boats to discharge their cargo at the country's largest water entry port. "Preparations are ongoing well to allow ships to acquire a place to discharge fish. The government has been losing huge amounts of revenue and fish products owing to limited space," he said.He explained that the decision to suspend licence is to allow few ships to be able to dock and dis-charge fish products. "We issue licence to fisher-men; limiting them to only one species of fish. However, if they catch other types; they walk away with it since there is no place to bring them ... from now on we will make sure they bring the entire cargo," Dr Tizeba pointed out. The minister was concerned to note that the price of fish prod-ucts was extremely high in some markets in the country, denying the people of fish supplements...

By Bernard Lugongo FREIGHT forwarding companies using Dar es Salaam Port are up in arms over what they termed as 'sluggish' cargo handling by Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS), causing them unnecessary delays. TICTS has been contracted to manage the container handling activities at the port and the Inland Container Depots at Kurasini and Ubungo. Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (TAFFA) told the 'Daily News' over the weekend that the ongoing efforts to revitalise the port could be derailed if things not improved. TAFFA's Secretary General Tony Swai explained that they have listed number of flaws that needed immediate solutions for making the services at the TICTS more efficient. Among others, Mr Swai said the company has failed to implement the agreement reached by all stakeholders that requires it to adopt 24/7 working arrangement in a move to avoid congestion at the port, but currently it works in less than 10 hours a day. The freight forwarding agents are also aggrieved by the delays when their cargos are supposed to go through the physical verification by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) before being released from the depot.  "To have your cargo for verification alone can take at least three days while you only have seven days as grace period to clear your cargo, something, which leads us to incur storage charges," he complained. He asked: "If they are overwhelmed by the backlog due to limited space why don't they surrender some of the consignments to be stored within the port...

The Tanzanian parliament has shot down plans for the country to sign the economic partnership agreement (EPA). The move further frustrates Kenya’s efforts of having the joint trade deal signed between the European Union and the East African Community. In the session held last week Thursday, Tanzanian legislators expressed their objection to the deal which they argue is not designed in the country’s best interest. This even after EAC heads of states agreed to allow for more time to evaluate the agreement before passing a resolution during the heads of state summit to be held in January. Tanzania has been reluctant to the joint trade agreement, stalling negotiations for over a decade. In September, Tanzanian President John Magufuli urged for the extension of the EPA October deadline to allow Tanzania carry out an analysis of the deal. “Our decision to move together as East Africa is not negotiable. We agreed that the Economic Partnership Agreement, though already signed by two countries, we are going to give ourselves three months so we can move together as a community,” Deputy President William Ruto said in September after the meeting. The move by the Tanzanian parliament not to ratify the EPA could now scuttle the joint deal ahead of the January meeting. Kenya stands to lose the most without the agreement as other member states (Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda) would continue to get duty- and quota-free access under the EU’s Everything But Arms initiative, since they are classified as least developed countries....

KAMPALA - Experts say the Ugandan government needs to effectively implement the East African policy on renewable resources, if the country is to further development of the energy sector. “At the present there are low levels of renewable energy penetration and use across the region due to lack of effective implementation of the policy by member states especially in frameworks that would support renewable energy market development,” said Godfrey Ndawula. He is a consultant who has worked in the energy ministry. He was at a discussion on climate change in Kampala organized by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) at the Innovations Village in Ntinda. The East African Community (EAC) is mandated to increase the deployment of renewable energy and the adoption of energy conservation and energy efficiency practices through promoting, initiating and developing a comprehensive energy development of New and Renewable Energy Sources. Ndawula said the cooperation would further increase the demand for renewable energy, sustainable development and competitiveness as well as reduce the environmental impact in the partner countries. “If we were able to be ranked 9th out of the 55 countries in world and third among African nations in the 2015 Climatescope rankings, then we can make it to number one so soon,” he said. “But this is possible if we take EAC opportunities as priority in development.” ‘Renewals more profitable’ Goal seven of the UN general assembly on new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires that countries “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy...

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania will receive $5.3 million (about Sh12 billion) of TradeMark Africa’s (TMA) support for empowerment of women entrepreneurs, the regional not-for-profit company said yesterday. The money is meant to empower women entrepreneurs in Tanzania by helping them to get access to the wider markets across member states of the East African Community (EAC), according to the director for TMA’s Tanzania branch, Mr John Ulanga. “A total of $5.3 million will be issued to empower women entrepreneurs in Tanzania in a period of six years and today,” Mr Ulanga said during a function to announce a Sh500 million funding to Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce (TWCCIA). The money is meant to help TWCCIA in their project on cross-border trading endeavours while the remaining Sh11.5 billion will also be issued to various women entrepreneurial groups in line with need and requirements. Mr Ulanga said the TMA Women and Trade (WaT) programme seeks to increase incomes and improve livelihoods for women traders and women-owned enterprises through capacity building, addressing trade barriers and advocacy for policies that will create an enabling environment for them to thrive. He said a survey has shown that 70 per cent of cross-border businesses are done by women traders but that for a long time, they have been marginalised by a series of obstacles and barriers that range from geographical to gender and from financial to legal and exclusion. “It is therefore important to continually advocate for balanced frameworks and policy change that will nurture the...

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) and Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has signed a $1.3million that will see the two institutions automate their internal business services as well as upgrade their infrastructure to  improve service delivery mechanisms to stakeholders in Kenya and increase efficiency in the administration of agricultural trade documents. The MOU approximately Shs130 million includes funding to KEPHIS US$ 450,000 while the funding to AFA is US$ 850,000. The KEPHIS system will hasten the issuance of seed certificates to traders resulting in enhanced access to trade and market information, where information availability and traceability is expected to improve. The AFA system will centralize existing information, improve efficiency and service delivery as well as facilitate effective regulatory processes in the agricultural sector. The funding from TMA will allow the two institutions respond to challenges in production, value addition and streamlining of the agricultural supply chains to boost efficiency, transparency and predictability in the trading of agricultural produce and products. Eliminating these challenges will contribute to reduced costs along the value chain to guarantee higher earnings to farmers, improve food security for the country. It will also enable agriculture surpluses or new value chains to target export markets. During the ceremony, KEPHIS MD Dr. Esther Kimani, AFA interim Director General, Alfred Busolo Tabu and TMA Senior Director Trade Environment, Richard Kamajugo signed on behalf of their respective organizations. In his statement, TMA Senior Director Trade Environment, Richard Kamajugo said, “This quest enshrined in the national vision pillars of...