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End Dar port mess
2008-01-25 08:42:26
By Editor
The emerging picture at Dar es Salaam port is not satisfactory, nor does it call to anyone of us to turn a blind eye to the worrying situation.
The pile up of containers and the low turn around of ships is a disease that needs a major surgical operation until when we improve the efficiency, reliability and timeliness at Dar port.
We have concrete reasons for stating the above facts. When we rearranged the operational set up of the port and privatized the container terminal, the aim was to effect port efficiency.
Dar es Salaam port, which apart from being the biggest imports and exports hub in Tanzania, is also the preferred gateway to other countries like Malawi, Zambia, DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
It is a vital link to the entire Great Lakes region that offers expanding markets to Tanzanian traders and industrialists, more so at this precise moment when signs of return to peace in Eastern Congo are more apparent.
We decided to streamline operations at the harbour not only because these countries need to utilize our port services, but in realization of the fact that there is competition from other ports in Africa like Beira, Nacala and Port Elizabeth.
Angola`s Benguela Railway has been reopened and the Democratic Republic of Congo is also being served from that end, while some of the DRC cargo is also being ferried in from South Africa.
The existence of good roads and railways in our region—which facilitate the fast movement of cargo from relatively distant countries—is by itself enough reason for Dar es Salaam port to pull up its socks.
For this reason, we hasten to state that the prevailing situation at our major harbour is not an acceptable condition.
Importers, freight forwarders and clearing agents have been complaining that it is taking too long to clear their cargo.
With the situation obtaining at Dar es Salaam port, we cannot handle the additional pressure from Kenya that has been caused by the disruption of operations at Mombasa port, due to the on-going political crisis.
Recent developments like questioning the validity of extending the lease of the Tanzania International Container Services to 25 years—for TICS is central to the improvement of Dar es Salaam port operations—signify the need for truthfulness and transparency in the way we handle the port’s nagging problems.
This is the only way to ensure that we have a harbour that meets the requirements of the country`s fast growing economy and expanding the volume of our external trade.
We have to do away with the notion of solely depending on traditional exports to other continents, while ignoring huge and lucrative markets which are located next door.
Faster clearance of cargo and decongestion at Dar port is a sure way of helping Tanzanian firms to seek to tap into the business opportunities that exist in the Great Lakes region and other African countries.
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