Reinvestment at Dar port paying off

The motor vehicle imports through the Dar es Salaam Port during an eight-month period ending February this year increased by 50 per cent to 83,440 units from 55,819 units handled during the corresponding period ending February 2012.

Records by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) show that for the period spanning between July 2012 and February 2013, the Dar port handled 83,440 units of motor vehicles with almost 10,000 units arriving in the month of February.

The records show that while vehicle imports through the Dar es Salaam port increased to 7,091 units in July 2012 from 5,915 units for the same month in 2011 but the motor vehicle traffic almost doubled to 11,230 units in September 2013 from 6,757 units in September 2011.

The Dar es Salaam Port has recently reported increased overall cargo traffic, crediting improved efficiency with the business boom.

More specifically, Ruzangi said in a press statement released recently in Dar es Salaam that overall cargo traffic handled at the Dar Port between July 2012 and February 2013 increased by 20 per cent to 8,314,000 tonnes from 6,935,000 tonnes handled during the corresponding period in the year 2011/2012.

TPA Acting Corporate Communication Manager, Janeth Ruzangi, has attributed the impressive performance of the port to heavy investments in cargo handling equipment and human resource training.

The spokesperson said in her statement that liquid cargo and dry bulk cargo increased by 21.6 and 32 percent, respectively, during the period.

TPA has invested 10.4 million Euros (over 20bn/-) in the purchase of four modern cranes for loading and offloading containers at its ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga.
The authority has also invested adequately in the training of people operating the state-of-the art machines.

“The modern equipment and training of our staff have boosted the morale of workers and reduced machine breakdowns, keeping our overall operational efficiency high,” said Ruzangi was quoted as saying in Dar es Salaam recently.

Dar es Salaam port, which also serves transit cargo to and from the landlocked countries of DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, currently boasts of being among the most competitive ports within the East African region.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN