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President Jakaya Kikwete presents gift to Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, when they visited Dar es Salaam Port recently. Right is the Tanzania Ports Authority Board chairperson, Prof Joseph Msambichaka, and left is Minister for Transport Samuel Sitta. PHOTO | THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT
Posted Sunday, April 12 2015 at 12:10
IN SUMMARY
- President Jakaya Kikwete and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame toured Dar es Salaam Port and witnessed some of the ongoing modernisation projects at the port as part of the meeting of the central corridor meeting held in the city and was attended by regional leaders and investors. Correspondent AZIZA CHARLES narrates the position and potential of the port in serving neighbouring countries.
Dar es Salaam Port is the backbone of the central corridor that stretches from Tanzania all the way to landlocked countries of East and Central African countries.
In short, the port is crucial not only for Tanzania's economy, but also for several neighbouring countries that strongly depend on the facility to import and export their goods and services. Yes, there are other ports in the region, but Dar es Salaam Port stands out, having several advantages. Geographically, the port is closer to countries it meant to serve than other ports. It is closer from Dar es Salaam to Kigali than it is from Mombasa to Kigali. This makes the port a preferable gateway to countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, DRC and Burundi. Also, recent efforts to make the port efficient speak volumes of the competitive advantage it has over others.
When visiting the port recently, President Paul Kagame commended Dar es Salaam Port, saying if such good reforms continued, Rwanda would keep on using the Dar es Salaam Port. He said when Dar es Salaam Port performed well, his country benefitted, something, which attracts Rwanda to continue using the port. "We hope that such good performance and safety records will continue. We are ready to continue working with you," said Mr Kagame.
According to TPA acting director-general Awadh Massawe, the last three years have seen no single container disappearing from the port. Also, dwell time for import cargo has dropped to nine days from 20 days nine years ago. He said last year alone a total of 630,000 metric tonnes of cargo destined to Rwanda passed through Dar es Salaam Port, which was higher than 235,000 metric tonnes of cargo destined to Rwanda that passed through Dar es Salaam Port in 2013.
"We promise to do even better to attract more cargo," he said. He noted that the country was working through the Big Results Now Initiative in redesigning the port to create more space so that it could handle more cargo.
For his part, President Jakaya Kikwete said he was impressed with the current port performance as it was his first time to visit it and hear good news.
"Every time I visited this port I encountered problems, it is my first time to come here and hear such good news," said Kikwete.
President Kikwete noted that the country was doing all it could to ensure infrastructure supporting the port was modified and improved to boost the performance of the port. He said currently the country was renovating and expanding birth one to birth seven so that they could handle more and bigger ships. Tanzania also served 1,500,000 tonnes of cargo for the DRC, while Mombasa serviced 437,000 tonnes of cargo for DRC in the same period.
According to Massawe, this shows how neighbouring countries have confidence in Dar Port following major changes that are going on. He said no container or any kind of cargo, which had been lost in the past three years. "These positive changes have started bearing fruit," he said, adding: "the average waiting time for ships to offload is one and half hours comparing to 28 hours in the past seven years.
Dar es Salaam Port serves seven neighbouring countries, which are DRC, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Zimbabwe. TPA board chairperson, Prof Joseph Msambichaka, said: "35 per cent of cargo passing here is for transit...we are determined to offer best services. Well functioning central and Tazara railway lines will help improve port's services," he said.
"When all cargo will start travelling by rail as planned by the government, this port will improve tremendously," he explained. The government is making efforts to modernise the port so that it serves both local and foreign goods passing through it. For example, there is a proposal to have a one-stop centre at the port or near it where all service providers will be housed under one roof to increase efficiency.
Having offices such as Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Tanzania Foods and Drugs Authority (TFDA), Government Chemist, Atomic Agency and Weight and Measure Agency will greatly help port customers use shorter time and ultimately realise more profit as they anticipate. Ongoing efforts to modernise Dar es Salaam Port coupled with building a standard railway gauge to replace the current railway line will make Tanzania a country of choice in port services.
Source:thecitizen
