TANZANIA Ports Authority (TPA) is a parastatal company wholly owned by the Government of Tanzania. It is managed by a board of five to eight members and a chairperson who is appointed by the president.

The organisation comes under the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication and the ministry has the power to assign board members.

The company has a similar management structure to any major company and in addition to this each major ocean and lake port has a port master in charge of operations. Amid news of an increase in cargo, specifically at Dar es Salaam Port, TPA has reiterated on its readiness to handle increases of imported and exported cargoes after major port improvement projects have reached at a promising level to allow for safer and quicker offload and loading of the larger shipments.

This has raised flag to some competitors, causing the ports authority to quash what it termed as misleading information spreading on social media that some customers were ditching Kenya based Mombasa port due to on-going general election campaigns, where the neighboring country will vote for president, members of parliament and local leaders "It is true that our ports have been getting busy day today but this should not be directly attributed to having anything to do with forthcoming Kenyan election," Mr Nicodemus Mushi, TPA's Acting Marketing and Public Relations Director says.

He added; "the increasing of imported and exported cargo at our ports are due to renovations made, where berth zero to berth seven have been reconstructed, coupled with dredging the water deepness to allow lager ships to dock more easily," The renovation, Mr Mushi adds, have therefore caused more customers from East and Central African countries to opt for the Dar es salaam port due to geographical advantage thereof.

He goes on to refute the Kenyan election campaigns to avoid Mombasa port as a reason for the busy Dar es salaam port, saying that other reasons for hike in cargoes handled, is due to resurging global movements of goods which has been previously paralysed by the restrictions of production and transportation activities due to the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic.

"You see, production and transportation of goods is resuming globally, and this is the reason for our ports to have more cargo on recent times as neighboring countries are ordering different stuffs for their economic activities," he says.

On the other side, Mr Mushi says that TPA was anticipating even more cargo increase and was ready to handle it timeously, given that the port of dares salaam has been capacitated to accommodate docking of largest ships, known as power max ships which carries lager cargo.

Going into details, Mr Mushi says that the large ship will start loading and unloading cargoes at Dar es Salaam port soon after on-going dredging entrance channel work is accomplished in the near future. He said various machine for speeding up cargo packing and unpacking have already been purchased, some are on their way from manufacturers, and hence, more efficiency and efficacy.

On the possibilities of shippers opting Dar es salaam port instead of Mombasa one, was possible due to tendency of traders avoiding busy areas like that with an ongoing electoral campaigns.

"The public should understand that Tanzania and Kenya are neighbors with strong bilateral relations. So TPA wishes well for Kenya, but some customers may tend to opt nearby port, as they may consider Mombasa one to be busy, however there is no evidence that this is the reason for increased import and exports transported through Dar es salaam port," he notes.

For Tanzania, says Mr Mushi, TPA considers all eight countries it shares physical border with as trading partners and not competitors. Rwanda and Burundi are almost relaying on Tanzania's ports for almost all of their imports and exports, while the cargo meant for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is as well on the increase Other countries incudes Zambia, while talks are underway to increase cargoes for Malawi, saying that the improved Mtwara port serves the country better when joined with news marine vessels in Lake Nyasa which reduces shipment cost due distance shorter distance.

For the said of Uganda, Mr Mushi clarifies that plans are already in place to increase percentages of imports and exports through Tanzania's sea ports.

"Already there are talks to handle Uganda cargo to reach 50 Percent. This will is due to shorter distance of using the central railway line and lake Victoria ferries to speed up cargo, while reducing freight costs," he says.

Mr Mushi explains further that the TPA is confident on growth of cargo to Uganda, as the East African nation was ready exporting some goods to Tanzania, pioneered by sugar and hence, it is an economic viability for transporters from both countries. TPA has the responsibility to manage and operate the ocean ports and lake ports of the country of Tanzania.

The Tanzania Ports Authority headquarters are located in Kurasini Dar es Salaam. It is a member of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa.

The first formal commercial ports developed in German East Africa were the Tanga Port connected to the Usambara Railway in 1883 and the Dar es Salaam Port connected to the Tanzania Central Railway in 1905. The ports were controlled directly by the railway authorities throughout the colonial period.

In 1947 the British government formed the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation. The corporation was formed by merging the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours with the Tanganyika Railway and all Tanganyika ports and harbours. After the independence of the respective east African countries the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation continued to facilitate its mandate on the railways and ports until 1967.

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After 1967 the East African Community decided to separate the Railways and the Harbours Corporation, and in 1969 the East African Harbours Corporation was formed.

The East African Harbours Corporation had the authority to run and develop the ports in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. The new company operated for 10 years and ceased operations in 1977 due to the dissolution of the East African Community. Each country formed their respective organisations. In Tanzania, the Tanzania Harbours Authority was formed.

Dar es Salaam Port is and handles 90 per cent of the country's cargo traffic. The port is divided into two parts - Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) and TPA.

To increase efficiency and encourage new challenges to the local port operators the TPA has authorised TICTS privately to receive and clear cargo at the port. The Port also provides a vital transit point for cargo from multiple neighbouring landlocked countries.

Almost 35 per cent of all cargo moving through the port is transit cargo. The port is connected to two railways; the Tanzania Central Railway and the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA).

Read the original article on Daily News.

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