GAS BOOM TO TRANSFORM MTWARA PORT

COME 2030 and the Mtwara Port would be handling some 28 million tonnes of traffic, thanks largely to the gas boom in Mtwara and Lindi regions.

Daily News Staff Writer CHABY BARASA reports. A huge leap indeed for the Port located 580 kilometres Southward of Dar es Salaam whose current capacity stands at a mere 400,000 metric tonnes per annum.

To reach the said target, the port will see four more berths constructed and a free port established as Tanzania Ports Authority sets out to fully exploit on the massive discoveries of the resource estimated at over 50trillion cubic feet.

Mtwara Port Master Absalom Bohella says once the port attains its full potential in the wake of gas discoveries, the economic benefits to the region would be there for all to see and tap. Mr Bohella observes that the port has been a sleeping giant that is now about to rise to prominence as a result of the expected gas boom.

"Mtwara has the potential to overtake Tanga and rival Dar es Salaam ports in the near future," says Bohella, brimming with confidence. The Port, built by the colonial government in the 1950s is mainly designed to handle conventional cargo. However, it can deal with up to 750,000 metric tonnes if additional equipment is put in place for handling containerized traffic, says Bohella.

Currently the port mainly handles break-bulk imports namely cement, food stuffs and miscellaneous general cargo while general exports are unprocessed cashewnuts to India and other Asian countries.

"It therefore goes without saying that the facility has not realized its full potential as attested by the average annual cargo figures at the port, which indicate that for the past five years, it handled 136,500 metric tons, which is 34 per cent of its capacity of 400,000 metric tons," says the Port Master.

However, discovery of gas and ongoing offshore exploration of oil and gas in the southern regions undertaken by various multinational companies that include BG Group, Ophir Energy, Statoil and Petrobas, is set to transform the port in a big way. Mr Bohella says the oil and gas exploration companies operating offshore are currently using Mtwara Port as a supply base, which has translated to an increase in revenue of the port even before the fully fledged gas economy takes off.