DAR PORT TURNS UP ROSES WITH INCREASED OUTPUT, TPA CHIEF NOW REVEALS

TPA Director General, Eng. Deusdedit Kakoko.

Improved efficiency at the Dar es Salaam port has enhanced the volume of cargo handling, with promise of an additional 120,000 tonnes of imports and exports to an annual freight tonnage of 16 million.

The Director General of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Eng. Deusdedit Kakoko, maintained yesterday that the volume of cargo has continued to record an upward trend during the last quarter of last year and first quarter of this year.

“We recorded an impressive surge in traffic of cargo between October and December, last year and this was maintained during January to March, this year,” he explained.

To spice-it all up, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Simba Logistics Limited, Mr Azim Dewji, assured the port management of exports and imports totalling 10,000 tonnes each month, translating to about 120,000 per annum.

Mr Dewji, a prominent businessman dealing in transport and logistics, hailed the Fifth Phase Government under President John Magufuli, for sweeping reforms at the port which have considerably improved efficiency.

The businessman was speaking at the port during an occasion to receive a fleet of over 50 long-distance trucks loaded with heavy machinery destined for mining and processing of minerals in the Eastern parts of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“We have clients in DRC who will be importing machinery for mining and construction projects and at the same time will be transporting through the Dar es Salaam port copper and other exports from DRC and Zambia.

“…we had issues of red-tape from government authorities at the port in the past … but this is no more and we managed to secure a permit from TANROADS to transport the wide load consignment in just three days; it would have taken us weeks then,” he observed.

Mr Dewji revealed that there was an aggressive smear campaign from ports in neighbouring region, who want to tap into opportunities available in other land-locked countries in the region.

At the same occasion, the Director of MM Integrated Mills Limited, Mr Ratiku Kamania, said they were planning to import 10,000 tonnes of steel for its factories in Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda and Malawi.

“Almost 3,000 tonnes of the steel will be used in Tanzania and the rest will be exported to our factories in neighbouring countries,” he explained.

The DG of TPA had earlier disclosed that there were people trying to bypass the Tanzanian port despite its efficiency and proximity to mineral fields in Eastern DRC.

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