How Tanzania can benefit from geographical position

Dar es Salaam. Cargo to and from landlocked countries through Dar es Salaam port account for only 29.4 percent of all the cargo handled by Tanzania’s largest seaport annually – and, if nothing else, this suggests that the port’s capacity to handle transit cargo is yet to be used in full.

Speaking during the 12th Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) meeting in Dar es Salaam recently, the director general of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Mr Erick Hamis, said only five million out of the 17 million tonnes of sea freight imported though Dar es Salaam port last year were destined for landlocked neighbouring countries.

The reality on the ground is that Tanzania does have a great geophysical advantage in logistical terms as these relate to international sea trade.

Tanzania has a readily accessible route to and from the landlocked neighbouring countries of Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which currently import and export goods through the Indian Ocean ports Dar es Salaam and Mombasa in Kenya to the north-east.

If only five million out of the 17 million tonnes of imports through Dar es Salaam go to the landlocked countries – with the DRC, Zambia and Rwanda being the largest markets for the goods in that order – then the rest of the imports are for home consumption within Tanzania.

“This is both ridiculous and shameful. We are not having this port for domestic use. Our prime goal is to trade with all the countries that are across our borders,” said Mr Hamis – thoughtfully adding that this suggests that something is very wrong.

Vowing that TPA will strengthen its presence in the landlocked countries in efforts to bolster businesses, the TPA chief said “we will bolster relationships management by embracing the ‘Customer is King’ approach!”

In that regard, Mr Hamis said, they were improving their port services to boost the cargo tonnages handled annually from the current 17 million to 30 million tonnes in the next two years.

“We must hit the target – and, for this to happen, we need to change the ‘business as usual’ way we are operating. I don’t see any intensive marketing that has been done to promote Dar port as an international along with Mombasa, Durban and Beira. It is high time we changed,” he concluded.

A board member and spokesperson of Tanzania Truck Owners Association (Tatoa), Rahim Dossa, told The Citizen over the ’phone that the viral Covid-19 pandemic had contributed to the low volume of goods passing through Dar es Salaam port to and from landlocked countries.

He also attributed the negative trend to a number of challenges like unmitigated bureaucracy and an unfriendly approach in charging warehouse rent, which is levied after only the first 21 days of cargoes arriving at the port was unfair.

This is especially considering that some cargo consignments are too huge to be cleared out of the port within a mere 21 days.

Noting that fuel imports-in-transit can be held free of storage charges for only 30 days – and copper exports stored free for only 90 days – Mr Dossa expressed optimism that things would change for better, banking his hopes on a series of meetings they have already held with the government.

Working through the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) and the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC), the Ports Improvement Committee (PIC) had early last month presented their concerns to the government.

“We have proposed that the Ports Authority starts charging warehouse rent after 180 days of free storage at the country’s seaports. This will create a level playing field – thus make us competitive,” Mr Dossa said, stressing that “this is what is done in many other countries.”

The president of the Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (Taffa), Mr Edward Urio, said handling only five million tonnes of imports for landlocked countries shows that Tanzania has not been exhaustively using Dar es Salaam port’s potential.

This suggests that some of Tanzania’s cargo import and export market share is being shared with other more competitive seaports like Beira and Maputo in Mozambique.

“These statistics, Mr Urio said, are a wake-up call for our ports stakeholders to see how they could pull up socks to ensure that they recover the market share that has gone to competitive ports in other countries.”

Before the new TPA director general took over TPA a few months ago, he explained, the private and public stakeholders in the port were not cooperating appropriately in terms of ensuring that the country’s seaports increase their efficiency and, therefore, market share of the business. “But it is commendable that, this time round, the new DG has come up with the new idea of engaging the private sector by dialoguing with them on how best to effectively tackle the challenges which bedevil our ports, and grapple with them,” said Mr Urio. In a bid to increase efficiency in services delivery to its clients, TPA launched a special call centre last Friday.

Speaking at the launch, the director general said that, using the call centre, the Authority would be able to receive complaints and work on them within 24 hours.

“Our officials at the call centre will be able to receive complaints and respond to them promptly, or route them to the officials concerned for immediate action,” said Mr Hamis.

He directed all section directors to make sure that complaints raised by customers are worked on within 24 hours. “If, for any reason, they are to take longer, then customers need to be constantly updated on the status,” he insisted.

Launching the call centre – whose phone call number is 0800 110 032 – Works and Transport minister Leonard Chamuriho said anyone can seek information regarding port services using the new platform

“We are confident that the call centre will effectively address the challenges that port users have been grappling with,” said Dr Chamuriho.

“This would, in turn, bolster the relationship between our port officials and other stakeholders, including port users.”

Establishment of the TPA call centre is among the tangible fruits of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the Ports Authority signed with the Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTCL) on April 23, 2020.