nngu007
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 2, 2010
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Dar es Salaam. There 20 barriers between Dar es Salaam and Kigali, Bujumbura and Kampala that slow down the movement of goods within the East African region. The situation is made worse by the fact that nearly 90 per cent of goods in the central transport corridor are ferried by road.
Two decades ago, 90 per cent of goods were transported by rail from Dar es Salaam port to Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today, with railway transport in this corridor virtually on its knees, goods are ferried by heavy trucks managed by private investors.
It takes 20 days to clear and transport a single container from Dar es Salaam to Kalemie in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 14 days to transport a container from Japan to Mombasa or Dar es Salaam.
Six heads of state are expected to converge here for two days, starting today, to discuss the progress of the Central Corridor, a multi-modal trade and transport passage which links Tanzania's main port of Dar es Salaam with the neighbouring landlocked countries.
The Roundtable will be followed by a high level industry and investor forum tomorrow, both chaired by host President Jakaya Kikwete. Other heads of state at the two-day conference are Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pierre Nkurunzinza of Burundi, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya.
According to the programme, the heads of state will visit Dar es Salaam port and flag off block trains to Burundi, the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda.
Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) are common transit delays caused mainly by inspections carried out by multiple national regulatory authorities. Trucks often have to stop as much as 20 times, for example, between Dar Port and Kigali, Bujumbura and Kampala.
This raises transport costs by 15 per cent, according to research by the Central Corridor Transport Facilitation Agency, a multilateral Agency established on September 2, 2006, that was created by five governments--Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
The agency was created in recognition of the right of landlocked countries to transit trade under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 56/180 on particular needs of Landlocked Developing Countries from which other declarations and action programmes evolved.
Through co-operation among private and public sector stakeholders, TTFA is charged with promoting use of the Central Corridor, encouraging the maintenance, upgrading, improvement and development of infrastructure and supporting service facilities at port, rail, lake and road border posts.
Along the route, TTFA is expected to meet user requirements, ensure open competition and reduce the cost of transit transport for landlocked members.
The central corridor is about 1,700 kilometres long, stretching from Bujumbura through Kigali to the coastline at Dar es Salaam port.
It is shorter than the northern corridor, which is about 1,900 kilometres and stretches from Bujumbura through Kigali, Kampala and Nairobi to the port of Mombasa.
According to "The Current Status of NTBs in East Africa", a report launched in September 2014, Tanzania leads the region with 26 per cent of the region's overall NTBs, followed by Kenya with 24 per cent, Uganda 22 per cent and Rwanda with 14 per cent.
To sort out the obstacles caused by NTBs, it was agreed last year that the 20 barriers be cut down to only three in order to reduce the time and cost of transporting goods along the Central Corridor.
According to Tanzania's Big Results Now (BRN) initiative, the project will reduce the number of official checks for transit trucks from 17 to three along the Central Corridor.
This move, some transporters says, will improve road safety and reduce accidents caused by tired drivers and also cut down road congestion caused by trucks parked along the roadside. Electronically linked weigh in motion weighbridges are also expected to be introduced. But little has gone into addressing the situation so far.
Dar port's snail's pace improvement
Another major obstacle has been congestion at the Dar es Salaam port, which not only delays clearance of goods at the port but also raises the cost of doing business for importers and exporters.
Dar es Salaam Port, managed by Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), is the backbone of the Central Transport Corridor because of its strategic location, which gives it a competitive edge in serving its landlocked neighbours--Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
In recent years, Dar port's performance has improved substantially with a rise in cargo traffic and in cargo product. In 2013/14, total cargo handled by the port grew to 14.6 million metric tonnes, up from 12.6m in 2012/13.
The data further shows that there is also a narrow reduction of number of days it takes to clear a single container from 9.8 days to 9.4 days. But stakeholders say a lot of work still needs to be done ito reduce the time it takes to clear a single container at the port.
It takes roughly 10 days to clear a single container at Dar port plus another 10 days or so to transport the same container to Kigali or Kampala--the same time it takes to ship a container from Japan or China thousands of kilometres to Dar es Salaam port.
Port data indicates that there has been a 4.5 per cent rise in the motor-vehicle discharge rate--from 672 vehicles in 2012/2013 to 702 vehicles per shift in 2013/2014--while the ship turnaround is 5.2 days.
In September 2014, Trademark East Africa and the World Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tanzanian government (through TPA) to finance the expansion and modernisation of the port.
The multilaterals agreed to provide $500 million that will finance projects to improve and modernise the port.
The projects include deepening and strengthening berths One to Seven, dredging of the entrance channel and turning basin, constructing a new berth and roll on-roll off terminal and improvements in the efficiency and operational effectiveness of the port.
The Tanzanian government also has various projects aimed at improving service delivery at the port, though they have proceeded at a slow pace. Some of the measures include the construction of berths 13 and 14 so the port can accommodate larger container vessels (to move away from the second generation vessels currently handled by the port).
There has also been a move to encourage use of Import Container Depots (ICDs) and 10 ICDs have been licensed to work with the port. Automation of cargo clearance processes is also in progress.
Dilapidated and abandoned railways
The central transport corridor used to rely heavily on railway transport two decades ago but things have changed significantly after the system was abandoned for lack of strategic investments.
The central railways operated by the TRL is comprised of over 2,700 km of one-metre gauge track capable of supporting 15 ton/axle loads-with Speed restrictions of 13–50 km/h.
Given these speed restrictions, train turnaround is estimated at about 18 days from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza or Kigoma instead of the scheduled 10 days. According to 2009 data, less than six per cent of Central Corridor traffic moved by rail.
Rail transport via the TRL does not technically connect the port of Dar es Salaam to any other country in the EAC. Instead, cargo is distributed through an integrated rail/ferry system, travelling on rail through Tanzania to the port of Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika (connecting with Bujumbura, Burundi, and to Kalemie and Uvira in the DRC) or to the port of Mwanza on Lake Victoria (connecting to Kisumu in Kenya and Port Bell in Uganda).
The merchant fleet operating on Lake Victoria is reportedly more modern than that of Lake Tanganyika, but public rail and port intermodal facilities are outdated
Source: informereastafrica