ZAMBIAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY SHOWERS PRAISE ON DAR ES SALAAM PORT

Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ) Acting Loading Master, Mr Peter Mbilinga shows members of the visiting Zambian Business Community a tanker offloading oil at the facility that can receive ships of up to 45,000 deadweight tonnage. The business delegation was on a familiarisation tour of Dar es Salaam Port activities in the city, yesterday.

The Zambian business community has hailed the improvement of Dar es Salaam Port, efforts that have contributed to attract more cargo from the landlocked nation, thanks to an affirmative action being taken by the fifth phase government.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the businesspersons from Zambia, who are currently on a familiarisation tour of the port’s activities, said there has been a remarkable improvement in terms of performance, from cargo handling at the port to transportation.

“We do appreciate efforts being made by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) in improving service delivery at Dar es Salaam Port. The port remains the best gateway for Zambia,” said Michael Nyirenda, President of Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who led the delegation.

However, he called for more measures to be taken between relevant authorities in Tanzania and Zambia to expedite cargo clearance upon reaching Tunduma border from Dar es Salaam.

According to Mr Nyirenda, there is much delay of cargo upon reaching Tunduma border post on its way to Nakonde on the Zambian side.

Acting TPA Director of Marketing, Ms Lydia Mallya said Zambia transported 1.248 million tonnes of cargo through the Dar es Salaam Port between January and September 2016, but following improvement in various areas the cargo increased to 1.478 million tonnes between January and September, this year.

Ms Mallya told the 10-man delegation that TPA was open for suggestions and proposals from Zambian business community on how best to improve service delivery. Zambian traders are the number one TPA’s transit customers.

Acting Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Director General, Lazaro Jacob assured the delegation that TPA and other stakeholders in the transport sector would continue supporting and improving service delivery.

“I would like to inform you that as a strategy to improve efficiency, TPA has opened an office in Lusaka at the Tanzania High Commission to Zambia and it is also planning to open another office in Kitwe to bring services closer to customers,” Mr Jacob told the Zambian business community.

According to the Acting Director General, the plan was underway by TPA to open a bank account so that payments could be done by Zambian traders while in Zambia.

He also said TPA introduced an enterprise resource planning system, integrated electronic payment system and enhanced security system by installing state-of-the-art CCTV cameras in all the port parameters with the ability to operate 24 hours.

Clarifying on security measures instituted at Dar es Salaam Port, Mr Jacob said TPA installed over 400 CCTV cameras at the port that could record all activities in the area.

He said security of cargo along the road was also given priority as there was a system installed to track the vehicle while on the road.

He said Dar es Salaam Port has new single point mooring for handling crude oil and refined products with the capacity of 150,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) with fast discharge speed of flow rate of 2,500 for white and 3,500 for crude oil.

Other measures to improve the port that the Zambian importers were made aware of include upgrading and strengthening of berths 1 to 7 to increase and create more space for handling cargo, dredging of the entrance channel, developing two new berths (13 and 14) to handle Panamax size vessels.

According to Wikipedia, Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal.

It represents the largest acceptable size to transit the Panama Canal, which can be applied to both freighters and tankers; lengths are restricted to a maximum of 275 metres, and widths to slightly more than 32 metres.

Also, in the list of measures include computerising of cargo clearance system to enable port users to access relevant information electronically. The development of mega port at Bagamoyo to handle Panamax size vessels was also mentioned.

Vice-President of Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (TAFFA) Mr Edward Urio, who also attended the meeting between TPA and the Zambian traders, said TAFFA shared the list of licensed freight forwarders with their counterparts in Zambia to avoid Zambian traders falling into the hands of unscrupulous individuals.

He said the list also was at the Office of Tanzania High Commission in Zambia.

Daily News