East African Business Week (Kampala)
Elias Wambura
7 July 2009
Dar Es Salaam — Importers with overdue containers have been given a 30-day amnesty to help decongest Dar-es-Salaam Port.
The amnesty takes effect August 1, and is for containers over 120 days due as of June 15, 2009.
"The full list of containers is at our website www.ticts.com/amnesty list and importers are encouraged to confirm whether their containers are eligible for the amnesty," said Neville Bissett, the CEO Tanzania International Container Services Limited (TCTS).
The waiver is up to US$ 14 million of storage charges.
Bissett said customers are required to complete all necessary documentation and obtain the necessary release to enable them pay port charges within the deadline.
Normal documentation requirements apply as importers must clear customs and obtain the necessary delivery order from their shipping agents.
Bissett added that their initiative was supported by both Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and the shipping lines and have promised to assist in working with importers to clear consignments within the deadline.
"On September 1 all the remaining consignments will be handed over to TRA for auctioning," he noted.
The amnesty scheme offers the following one-off discounted storage rates per container: long standing containers that have stayed above 365 days will be required to pay $1,500 per container; those that have stayed between 181 and 365 days will have to pay $ 2,000 per container and those that stayed for 120 to 189 days will pay $2,500.
The discounted rates are subject to value added tax (VAT) and apply to storage charges only; all other port charges apply, he said.
Meanwhile, Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) last week announced the opening of an alternative route to the sea through Dar es Salaam for goods from and to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the rest of the region.
Port officials said they would discuss the issue of taxes with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
The new route, called the central corridor, consists of rail, lake and road links.
Cargo will be delivered to Kampala from Dar es Salaam through Morogoro, Dodoma, Manyoni, Singida, Nzega, Kahama, Biharamulo, Muleba, Bukoba, Mutukula and Masaka.
Flavian Kinunda, the Marketing Director TPA led the Tanzanian delegation. He said Uganda was for them a very important market and transit route.
He said they had the capacity to handle the Ugandan cargo traffic to the coast, currently standing at four million tonnes, which today primarily goes through Mombasa. Dar es Salaam Port, with a capacity of 11 million tonnes, is handling only seven million tonnes, he explained, adding that they were planning to increase the port's capacity.
"We are here to strengthen our efforts in the Ugandan market. We closed the route some time back because of problems. We want to come back to recapture the market," said Kinunda.
Kinunda said there was a misconception that the Tanzanian route was more expensive than the Kenyan one. Besides distance, the issue of import taxes also needs to be taken into consideration, he said.
He said import taxes are based on the cost, insurance and freight value but the issue was negotiable with URA.
The Ugandan economy suffered early in 2008 when transport was disrupted during the post-election violence in Kenya.
Ugandan transporters, who tried to pass through the mayhem, were beaten up and their trucks burnt. The disruption led to acute fuel shortages in Uganda and other land-locked countries in the region.
But Kinunda said TPA was not competing with Mombasa for the Ugandan market. Instead, he stressed, Dar es Salaam should be regarded as a second route to the coast.
He said they were also liaising with the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments for the construction of a railway line from Arusha to Musoma. The route, he said, would open up Tanga Port for goods to Uganda and Southern Sudan.
The opening of alternative routes will speed up the delivery of goods to Uganda, which has been suffering from bureaucratic delays and manpower shortages at Mombasa port. It will also bring down the cost of doing business in Uganda as competition will set in.
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