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Mtwara port ranked second in cargo handling
Mtwara Port. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Mtwara Port has an average of over 10,000 empty containers, something that makes the port busy all the time instead of remaining seasonal as it used to be in the past.
Mtwara. As Tanzania Ports Authority, (TPA) marks 18 years of its establishment, Mtwara Port has ranked second after Dar es Salaam in terms of the volume of cargo passing through and services offered to clients.
TPA deputy director Juma Kijavara made the revelation here during the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) event held at Ligula Regional Referral hospital.
“Dar es Salaam Port tops all other ports in the country. It used to be our dairy cow followed by the Tanga Port. However, Mtwara Port has overtaken the Tanga Port according to the number of handled containers,” said Mr Kijavara.
He said in April 2023, Mtwara Port started handling an average of 3,000 to 5,000 containers a month.
Mr Kijavara said at the moment Mtwara Port has an average of over 10,000 empty containers, something that makes the port busy all the time instead of remaining seasonal as it used to be in the past.
A total of Sh147.8 billion has been invested during rehabilitation of the port which involved the construction of new berths that was completed in December 2020 as well as deploying modern handling equipment.
He said the recuperation aimed at increasing the volume of cargo handled at the port to one million tonnes annually five years after the completion of the project implementation.
However, Mr Kijavara said the port has handed over 1.5 million tonnes since April this year, therefore surpassing the forecast.
In the 2022/23 Fiscal Year, Mtwara Port planned to handle 400,000 tonnes of cargo, but over 1.6 million tonnes of cargo was handled.
Reports from the port attributes the achievements to maintained peace, improved port efficiency, investment and coal export.
He said Mtwara Port was now ready to handle a large volume of cargo, noting that complaints related to cashew export delays due to absence of vessels and containers have been resolved.
“We are now exporting peas. These activities also significantly contribute to the strengthening of the regional economy,” he said.
“We at the TPA, we are more than ready to handle all the cashews produced in southern regions because of the guaranteed availability of vessels and containers,” he added.
He said TPA was planning to develop Mtwara Port so as to enable it to have the ability of handling vessels with 80,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes capacity.
Furthermore, he said the authority was planning to construct over seven storey building that would serve as Mtwara Port headquarters.
As its CRS, TPA donated 15 delivering beds for expectant mothers as well as self-sterilization delivery kits worth Sh30 million to Ligula Regional Referral Hospital.
The hospital’s medical officer in charge, Dr Lobikieki Kisambu said the donation had come at the right time as the hospital was rehabilitating the maternity ward.
He said the donation will minimize the hospital’s spending especially in procurement of delivering beds and associated kits after completion of rehabilitation exercise.
Mtwara Regional Commissioner (RC), Cornel Ahmed Abass said the region had higher demands for improved mother and child services.
The acting Mtwara District Commissioner (DC) who doubles as Tandahimba governor, Cornel Patrick Sawala thanked TPA for returning some of what had been collected to citizens in the region.
