ENTRY TO AFRICA

Tanzania Ports Authority

“We have several principle activities to consider,” Franklin Mziray Corporate Communications Manager tells us, “Firstly, the coordinated and streamlined establishment and upgrade of the Harbour systems and two the upgrading of the Tanzanian ports to an international standard where we can provide the facilities relevant to harbours and harbour services and gain approval from the Minister to construct and operate new harbours.”

This requires the construction of beacons and navigational aids, the various businesses of managing the logistics of the harbour, developing warehousing to store goods and the consignment of said goods and the development of an environment prepared and ready for further international business development.

“The development and keen logistic management of the port is important for Tanzanian economic growth which comes from a number of areas, not only the local development of business and employment of local people but since a number of Tanzanian neighbours are entirely landlocked and as such make use of the invaluable sea and lake ports within the authority’s control.”- Franklin.

The catalogue of ports that fall under the Tanzania Port Authority include sea and lake ports, the main sea ports include Dar Es Salaam, Tanga and the recently updated Mtwara and lake ports including Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa.

Dar es Salaam port is the Tanzania principal port with a rated capacity of 4.1 million DWT, (deadweight tonnage is a measurement of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry) dry cargo and 6.0 million DWT bulk liquid cargo. The Port has a total quay length of about 2,000 metres with eleven deep-water berths. The Dar es Salaam port handles

While the Port Authority has been in existence in one form or another since the founding of Tanzania, its current personification is the answer to a specific need and so they have always known exactly what their purpose is.

Endeavour Magazine • January 2013 •

Tanzania Ports Authority

95% of the Tanzania international trade and serves the landlocked countries of Malawi, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Strategically placed to serve as a convenient freight linkage not only to and from East and Central Africa countries this port also bridges the gap between the middle and Far East, Europe, Australia and America.

In September 2012 the first phase for the Mtwara Port’s improvement has started with the construction of four berths and the expansion of the supply base for oil and gas exploration activities.

“Mtwara is hastily becoming Tanzania’s economic powerhouse and the question today is how well prepared are Mtwarans to adapt,” says Franklin, “And benefit from the fast economic changes in the southern region.”

Speaking at the Regional Consultative Council (RCC), Mtwara Regional Commissioner Joseph Simbakalia challenged the southerners to prepare for the sweeping economic changes by investing in their children’s education.

“We have to seriously take our children to school to fully enjoy the fruits of the coming social and economic development,” said Mr Simbakalia who also chaired the RCC.

The deep water port at Mtwara was built between 1948 and 1954 and its development was accompanied by railway construction from Mtwara and Nachingwea. Although, with the failure of the groundnut scheme, the rail system fell into disuse and this is one of the targets of the authority to coordinate. Infrastructure development to increase movement to and from the port is key to its sustainable growth.

The deep water quay is dredged to -9.8 metres chart datum, an advantage is there are no tidal restrictions for vessels entering and leaving the harbour but there is an enforcement length restriction of 175 metres due to the shape of the channel, particularly the MSEMO SPIT area.

Recognizing that with its success as a Corporate Citizen, comes the responsibility of giving back to the Society in a meaningful and sustainable manner the Tanzania Port Authority are keen to contribute to social progress and

Tanzania Ports Authority

improve the lives of Tanzanians through poverty alleviation and promotion of economic development.

To support the Government Development Initiatives, the Authority focuses its assistance to main areas of Health, Education, Social Development, the Physically Handicapped Group and also responding to the national disasters.

During the year, the Authority supported community development projects in the areas of education where assistance was focused on the construction of classes, provision of desks and other utilities. Donation money was granted towards hospital materials, refurbishment of wards and Health Centres to various communities and social developments projects on sanitation were also considered.

The physically handicapped were provided with special traffic road signs as mitigation on challenges they face on roads, the first step on this process is to ensure that relevant signs are placed at various road crossings in Dar es Salaam.

“When dealing with natural disaster aid the ports are one of the crucial entry ports to Tanzania and our neighbours for relief foods and equipment,” Franklin explains, “And recently the need has been more important than ever.”

In conclusion there is a great deal of work that is still required but the key benefit is that it’s clear in which direction they need to go and significant steps have been taken to keep them on this road. As their country depends more and more of their strength as an organisation and business the more notable their decisions will become.

Tanzania Ports Authoritywww.tanzaniaports.com+255 683 800 944

Written by Don Campbell

www.littlegatepublishing.com