Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is reaping out of its heavy investments in cargo handling equipment and human resource as cargo traffic at the Dar es Salaam Port increases, thanks to improved efficiency.
Dar es Salaam port
Overall cargo traffic handled by the Dar Port between July 2012 to February 2013 increased by about 20 per cent to 8,314,000 tones from 6,935,000 tones handled during the corresponding period in the year 2011/2012, TPA said in a statement in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.
The statement, signed by TPA’s Acting Corporate Communications Manager, Janeth Ruzangi, showed that the liquid cargo and dry bulk cargo also increased by 21.6 and 32 per cent, respectively, during the same period.
Said Ms Ruzangi: The cargo traffic is increasing as the trend of ship calls keeps on decreasing… this is because shipping lines are maximally exploiting their ships’ carrying capacities to increase profit margin.” Ms Ruzangi attributed the impressive business at the port to heavy investments in new equipment and employee training that has boosted the authority’s efficiency.
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, TPA spokesperson said in her statement.
“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 Ms Ruzangi, boasting that Dar es Salaam was now among the most competitive ports within the East African region.
She welcomed the shipping lines to come to Dar es Salaam, assuring them of modern, fast and high efficient services, “We invite shipping lines to bring their ships and all existing and potential users of our ports have to trust us that we will offer them superb services.”
TPA and all its development stakeholders – through the Port Improvement Committee (PIC) – have been working towards improving the performance and efficiency of the Dar port by designing measures to solve congestion of vessels at the outer anchorage and cargo at the port terminals.
