Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has achieved yet another feat after handling the highest volume of 59,960 metric tonnes of coal, to be shipped from Mtwara Port direct to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands through a bulk carrier, MV ETG Southern Cross.
The Bulk Carrier, built in 2021 with a carrying capacity of 63482 t DWT, arrived at Mtwara Port on Saturday from Payra, Bangladesh after a voyage of 24 days.
It is a record cargo for the Mtwara Port, which twice in the span of three months has smashed the coal cargo record, increasingly positioning herself as the preferred cargo terminal in southern Tanzania.
According to TPA’s cargo handling statistics at Mtwara Port, this highest coal tonnage duly surpassed the previous best of 59,815 tonnes of coal shipped to Egypt on March 4th, this year.
Interestingly, Mtwara port, Tanzania’s third-biggest state-owned port, wrote a new history by making inroads into new markets in Europe.
Described as a natural harbour, Mtwara Port is steadily realising its potential as a strategic port for the country, connecting the southern part of Tanzania to the rest of the world.
Mtwara port, which has been massively refurbished, started the year 2022 on the right foot after setting up the record of handling 59,498.46 tonnes of coal, exported to India on January 8.
TPA data show that between October last year and April this year, the port handled 245,732.30 tonnes of coal exported to various destinations, mostly to India, Egypt (59,815tonnes), Senegal (40,000tonnes), The TPA celebrated the latest milestone, reiterating its commitment to improve infrastructure, services and efficiency at the country’s ports.
“This is remarkable! We’re very delighted to handle such a record volume of coal cargo and for the first time to export the cargo to the European nation, the Netherlands,” remarked TPA’s Acting Marketing and Public Relations Director, Nicodemus Mushi. He was optimistic that the feat will be a catalyst to increased cargo freight at Mtwara terminal, and spur economic growth in the southern regions of Tanzania.
“The huge development at Mtwara Port will crucially ease cargo traffic at our principal port of Dar es Salaam and create more jobs for people in Mtwara and other surrounding regions,” Mushi added.
Mtwara Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General Marco Gaguti was equally excited with the record shipment of coal to the Netherlands, lauding the TPA management for steadily improving services and efficiency at Mtwara Port, hence attracting more traders to use the terminal.
“Government’s investment at Mtwara Port is colossal, it has constructed a new berth at the cost of 157.8bn/-. It also gave the TPA financial support to purchase equipment and improve the working condition,” he said, insisting that the government has every reason to support TPA’s initiatives to make the country a shipping hub in the region.
The Regional Commissioner said more efforts should be directed to Comoros, saying there are more business opportunities in the neighbouring archipelagic nation in the Indian Ocean.
Mtwara port, which was built between 1948 and 1954, is one of the three major seaports managed by the Tanzania Ports Authority. Others are Dar es Salaam and Tanga.
The government, through the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), recently expanded the port by constructing a new berth with a length of 300m and 13.5m depth (draft with the capacity to accommodate mega cargo ships weighing 65,000tonnes.
The berth has a yard measuring 75,807 square meters. The construction of the new berth was completed on December 31, 2021 at the cost of 157.8bn/-.
The government has equally invested in the state -of -the art cargo handling equipment, including modern mobile cranes and other heavy lifting machines at the port.
According to Acting Mtwara Port Manager, Norbert Kalembwe, the modern multipurpose cargo terminal is capable of delivering quality services and is crucial in serving the southern regions of Lindi, Mtwara and Ruvuma as well as neighbouring countries in the southern African region – Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.
The port’s old berth measures 380m in length while its yard has the size of 40,000 square metres. The completion of the new berth project, has increased the port’s cargo handling capacity from 400,000 tonnes per annum to 1000,000 tonnes.
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