To commence work on the Tanga Port’s railway infrastructure, Atupele Mwakibete, who is the deputy minister for works and transportation, recently directed the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) and Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to complete the processes needed.
This infrastructure will be used to transport cargo to and from the port. The port improvement and expansion project was 98.9% complete when he recently gave the order. According to him, the 429.1 billion projects to improve and expand Tanga Port must be completed before the railway infrastructure can be constructed.
The deputy minister claims that the port’s improvement as well as expansion increased port revenue. It has had a positive effect on the country’s income. The improvement and expansion also allowed large vessels to anchor at the berth.
Five huge ships have been anchored on the port’s new pier, he said. Also, revenue collections rose to $8 billion between January and March of this year. It is said that $5 billion was reportedly received in March alone.
Moreover, Mwakibete directed that the land acquisition process be carried out in order to expand the port and dry port, including the planned Usagara dry port, as well as to construct the Mwambani area, for which finances have already been set aside.
Tanga Port’s railway infrastructure’s current state
Railway Engineer Patience Karumuna previously explained the process of repairing and developing the railway infrastructure. She said they had already completed the survey and produced a map of the facilities. The map was recently handed over to the TPA, and they were currently awaiting a response from the authority.
Hamis Mrutu, an engineer at TPA Headquarters, reaffirmed that the authority had organized itself and come up with a team. The team had already begun visiting other countries and regions. Part of the reason for their tours was to promote the port in an effort to attract additional stakeholders to utilize the facility.
All port users and stakeholders were urged to make use of the facilities by Peter Milanzi. Mr. Milanzi is the acting manager of Tanga Port. He stated that the port’s existing capacity of 750,000 metric tons per year will be increased to three million metric tons per year.
Reported earlier
Nov 2019
Renovation works at Tanga Port in Tanzania commence
The Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) has officially started renovating and upgrading Tanga Port by dredging the entrance channel and the berth. The mega project is in line with Tanzania’s ambitious massive investment development plan to heighten the port’s competitiveness and cargo handling capacity.
Tanga Port upgrade project
The improvement at Tanga Port aims at turning the gateway into a highly competitive terminal, serving customers in the country, the East African region and the Great Lakes region as the plan now is to have a 12m depth berth from the current 5m. Future plans will also involve the construction of a passenger terminal and a modern Single Mooring Point (SPM) for oil cargo.
TPA Board Chairperson, Prof Ignas Rubaratuka and TPA Director General Deusdedit Kakoko said Tanga Port is a strategic terminal for the country’s economy. China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is implementing the project whose first phase which costs US $74m is expected to last for 12 months.
Port dredging
Currently, the Tanga port terminal does not accommodate mega cargo ships as the entrance channel and the berth are shallow, a factor that compels cargo ships to anchor about 1.7km away (outer anchorage) from the berth.
“Outer anchorage has so many disadvantages as it increases TPA’s operational costs, a burden which is sometimes passed on to traders and later consumers,” said Prof Rubaratuka. From the outer anchorage, he said, cargo is then brought to the berth by budges and tug boats, spending much time handling a single cargo, including increasing operational costs.
Prof Rubaratuka further said that upon completion of the first phase, cargo ships will be able to anchor only two 200m away from the berths before offloading cargo as preparations for the implementation of the second phase of the project that will involve dredging up to the berth are being made.
