Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANGA Port once known as Marine Jet is the longest-serving port in East Africa, with its construction dating back to 1888. The two berths of the port were constructed in 1914 and 1954 respectively.
According to Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Tanga Port was the main business gateway before the improvement of Dar es Salaam Port. It contributed greatly to the economic growth of Tanga, the neighbouring regions and the country in general.
However, the challenges of shallow water berths caused the port to handle ships through stream operations, the situation which deteriorated the growth of the facility, thus reducing its contribution to the economic activities in Tanga, neigbouring regions and the country in general.
Stream operations mean large ships could not dock at the berths due to shallow water, therefore, the vessels have to anchor 1.7 kilometers from the berths and offload the cargo which is put in budges and drugged to the berths, where the cargo is offloaded again
Tanzania Ports Authority Director General Plasduce Mbossa has assured that the sixth phase government is determined to restore the status of Tanga Port, it has lost for five decades. The commitment is demonstrated through the massive investment being carried out by the government in renovating and upgrading the facility.
Mr Mbossa commended President Samia Suluhu Hassan and her government for various measures being undertaken to improve and invest at Tanga Port especially in improving infrastructure, purchase of equipment and maintenance of working tools.
Tanga Port Manager Masoud Mrisha said recently that the gateway is currently undergoing major improvement which involves expansion of the entrance channel, increase of the draft at the turning basin, procurement of modern equipment and deepening of its two berths.
According to Mr Mrisha, the first phase of the project which was implemented at a cost of 172.3bn/- involved expansion of the entrance channel, increase of the draft at the turning basin and procurement of modern equipment has been completed by 100 per cent
On the other hand, Mr Mrisha said the implementation of the second phase of the project which involves improvement of 450-metre- long berths at a cost of 256.8bn/- has reached 93 per cent and is expected to be completed in April this year.
He said the port is currently equipped with modern cargo handling equipment among others, two gottwald, an empty handler with two tonnes capacity, one forklift with 50 tonnes capacity, a forklift with 16 tonnes capacity and two forklifts with five tonnes capacity.
Others are Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) for container delivering and two terminal tractors.
“These equipment will increase efficiency by reducing cargo handling time at the port,” Mr Mrisha noted.
“It is our expectation that upon completion of this project on April this year, the cargo volume will increase because the port will now handle larger vessels which will dock at the berth,” he said
Mr Mrisha said so far 300 metres have already been handed to the port thus vessels with such size can now dock at the facility.
He noted that despite the remaining 7 per cent of the work completion, the port has started attracting mega ships an indication that the cargo volume at the port is going to increase drastically.
The port boss noted that, the facility is expected to handle the largest ever ship on March 15th this year -MV Metsovo from US, which will dock at the port with 50,066.147 metric tonnes of petroleum bulk petcock.
Mr Mrisha further detailed that, the port is also expected to host another ship in early March this year with 5,000 tonnes of fertiliser (Ammonia Nitrate), the cargo which had never been handled at the port.
The Port Manager added that the port is also set to handle 2,481 tonnes of copper, which will pass through the facility to DR Congo.
According to him the gateway currently handles 750,000 tonnes of cargo per year but the volume is expected to increase in four folds to 3 million tonnes per year.
Mr Mrisha further noted that, as the improvements project nears completion, the port has also surpassed its cargo volume target for January this year which was 67,000 tonnes to 77,000 tonnes.
He added that for the 2021/2022 financial year the port had a target of handling 714,800 tonnes of cargo but it surpassed its target by serving 986,000 tonnes.
Mr Mrisha further said that with the major improvements the clients will also find it easier to pass their goods through the port because they are assured of their safety as the ships will be docking at the berths, Mr Mrisha said.
He said the port is also set to receive goods which had never passed through the facility an indication that it should prepare for an increase in cargo volume.
“We are confident to attain 3 million target of cargo volume per year upon completion of the project,” he said.
For his part, Tanga Regional Commissioner Omary Mgumba said that the completion of the project will end the challenges of double handling which increased the cost of doing business.
He said before the improvements the cargo were handled twice because of the shallow water berths.
The RC said besides, upgrading of the port , the facility has also modern equipment for cargo handling which will boost efficiency.
He said the improvements will attract investors and traders to use the Tanga Port thus increasing cargo volume and revenue collections.
Tabling the budget estimates for his docket, Minister for Works and Transport Prof Makame Mbarawa said that in 2022/2023 financial year TPA has allocated100.11bn/- from World Bank and 650bn/- from its internal sources for execution of various projects including improvement of Tanga Port .
He said part of the funds was channeled for deepening of berth no 1 and 2 with 450 metres and expansion of entrance channel and turning basin at Tanga Port.
The Third National Five Year Development Plan has also stressed on the importance of strengthening and building basic infrastructure including ports to stimulate economic activities.
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