Before the expansion of the port we were exporting 30,000 tonnes...

Before the expansion of the port we were exporting 30,000 tonnes of coal every after three months to overseas markets, but after the improvement in service delivery by the port, including smooth cargo handling procedures, we now export 55, 000 tonnes every after 45 days,” he says.


MTWARA Port has started taking its rightful place as the country’s potential gateway to the southern parts of the country, with stakeholders calling for more efforts to market it.

Receiving and handling cargo destined for the southern regions including Ruvuma, Lindi and Mtwara, the terminal now proves its potential of being an important facility for receiving cargo destined for some southern African countries such as Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and the Comoros.

As it is the nature of any port, the terminal now handles thousands of tonnes of cargo meant to be exported abroad, including Vietnam, China and India.

Acting Mtwara Port Manager, Mr Abdillah Salim spoke to the ‘Daily News’ recently, saying having the government, through the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) injected around 160bn/- for the facility’s expansion, efforts must now be directed towards marketing it.

“TPA, the government, including Mtwara regional and district authorities are doing their best in marketing this port, but we feel there is a pressing need to aggressively do it(marketing) to attract more cargo,” says Mr Salim.

He adds “This port now offers first class services, it is now among the best ports in the country and perhaps along the coast of Indian Ocean. It has state-of the art equipment to facilitate quick cargo handling with dedicated staff.”

To attract traders to use the terminal, Mr Salim says, TPA management has reduced some port charges.

According to Mr Salim, the Authority reduced the wharfage by 0.1 per cent payable to TPA while the rest of the ports in the country charge one per cent.

TPA also reduced stevedoring and handling charges by 30 per cent, making Mtwara the least expensive port to use in the country.

Stevedoring charges are the charges incurred for discharging /unloading of goods from a ship held to a quay, berth, wharf, pier or loading of goods to a ship, including shifting of cargo onboard a ship without landing on a quay.

Wharfage is the charge levied on goods for not removing them from port area after the expiry of the free time offered by the port authority.

Cashew nut traders, especially exporters, are also now smiling after TPA waived storage charges for empty containers.

“During cashew nut trading season traders are allowed to keep empty containers at the port’s storage facilities for free, making Mtwara port the least expensive port,” Mr Salim says.

Some traders, who have been using Mtwara port to import and export commodities, echoed similar sentiments, saying that after the expansion of the terminal that involved purchasing of equipment, cargo handling has significantly improved at the terminal.

Oilcom Tanzania Ltd Representative, Mr Jackson Tumwanga, who volunteered his comment to the ‘Daily News’, says when the oil company was receiving its oil consignment through Dar es Salaam Port it was incurring high operational costs since the firm was forced to offload fuel at Dar es Salaam Port from international oil tankers before again loading to small ships destined for Mtwara Port.

According to Tumwanga, discharging oil from international oil tankers at Dar es Salaam port before reloading it to Mtwara-destined ships caused double handling, prompting operational costs to be high, a practice that also caused pump prices to go up, hurting consumers in Mtwara, Lindi and Ruvuma regions where the firm supplies fuel.

“With the expansion of Mtwara Port and installation of all necessary infrastructures such as the flow meter, fuel cargo meant to be supplied to the southern regions is directly shipped to Mtwara terminal, a practice that now reduces cargo handling time and operational costs, resulting in affordable pump prices to consumers,” he says.

According to Tumwanga, each month the oil firm receives 2.4 million litres of petrol and another 2.4 million litres of diesel through Mtwara Port. He says the firm now plans to expand its fuel storage infrastructures by installing two tanks, each with the capacity to store 12.5 million litres of fuel.

“As the oil dealer we are satisfied with the port’s efficiency. The only thing that must now be done aggressively is to market this terminal. Its services are of international standard,” he says.

Mr Said Gadafi, whose company-Ruvuma Coal Mine- engages in exporting the resource to India and China says the expansion of the terminal and improvement of other services have enabled the company to increase the size of cargo exported abroad.

According to Mr Gadafi, Ruvuma Coal Limited exports the energy-generating material through Mtwara Port to India and China, adding that talks are underway so that the firm can start exporting coal to Middle East.

“Before the expansion of the port we were exporting 30,000 tonnes of coal every after three months to overseas markets, but after the improvement in service delivery by the port, including smooth cargo handling procedures, we now export 55, 000 tonnes every after 45 days,” he says.

He welcomes other members of the business community to fully exploit business opportunities in the southern regions since the gateway to oversee markets ( Mtwara Port) is fully supportive.

However, Gadafi says concerted efforts from all stakeholders, including media must be made to market the terminal to attract more traders.

As part of the government efforts to develop Mtwara corridor transit cargo destined for Malawi, Zambia and some parts of Mozambique is now transported via Masasi-Namtumbo-Songea, Mbinga up to Mbamba Bay Port in Lake Nyasa.

Mtwara Port underwent major rehabilitation by constructing a new berth measuring 300metres in length and 13.5 metres in depth, enabling the port to accommodate mega ships weighing 65,000 tonnes.

The expansion of the terminal, installation of flow meter and construction of fuel storage tanks at the port have added value to Mtwara port as fuel consignment is now directly offloaded at the terminal before being supplied to Mtwara, Lindi and Ruvuma regions.

Showing how strategic the port is to the nation and to some Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries, the terminal started handling equipment to facilitate oil exploration activities in northern Mozambique before security challenges forced the activities to be suspended.