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Study pinpoints bottlenecks at port container terminal
2008-04-22 10:38:05
By Lusekelo Philemon
Non-existence of a firm institutional link and coordination between container terminal operators and other key stakeholders of the terminal has contributed to the prevailing congestion at Dar es Salaam port.
A recent research carried out at the Dar es Salaam Container Terminal by the Institute of Finance Management (IFM), in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, indicates that key players at the port worked in isolation, making the problem chronic.
The container terminal is managed by the Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS)
Poor railway services have complicated the problem, making it very difficult to effect faster deliveries of containers, according to the study.
``This makes most of the landlocked countries take a number of weeks before they get its services,`` said Johnson Sallu in the report.
The research, which aimed at underscoring the importance of managing the container yard efficiently, thus play a significant role in enhancing its overall productivity.
Sallu said the terminal was ill-equipped in terms of loading gear, port tractors as well as other essential equipment, thus compounding congestion due to a higher dwell time both for local containers and those in transit.
Sallu`s report further said that ineffective control mechanisms and transparency of TICTS operations through both the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and Sumatra, coupled with the transshipment scourge mainly undertaken by the Maersk shipping company had to be looked into as it paralyzed port operations at the expense of the public.
However, the report recommends the Surface and Marine Transport regulator, Sumatra, to assume its full responsibility to deliver, monitor as well as regulate the emerging participation of the private sector in the industry.
The report says that the concession modality existing between TICTS and TPA on the running of the Dar es Salaam container terminal lacked essential parameters that would have enabled Sumatra to oversee the performance criteria of TICTS.
Had that been taken care of, it notes, it would have raised an alarm well before the container terminal was overwhelmed in the last quarter of the year 2006.
``It is at this juncture where the role of Sumatra comes in so as to act as regulator aimed at observing the performance of the contractor, TICTS, as per the agreement in place,`` reads the report in part.
It further elaborates that the container terminal attracted the attention of all users, the government being among major stakeholders and the landlord.
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