Mtwara — WITH massive infrastructures' improvements made at the Mtwara Port, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is now gearing up to transform the facility into a mega trans-shipment hub.
According to Mtwara Port Acting Manager, James Ng'wandu, TPA is currently holding talks with a local based company CMA-CGM,which has shown interest to bring big container vessels at the Mtwara Port.
"Once this deal is through, definitely we will start experiencing fleets of big vessels offloading cargo packed into containers and loading them into small ships to complete a journey to further destinations," he said.
To attract more customers, he said the TPA has also resolved to extend number of days that containers will be allowed to stay at the port, whereby, an empty container now is allowed to stay at the port for 21 days instead of 15, while containers with cargo can stay up to the maximum of 14 days, instead of seven.
Mr Ng'wandu told journalists from 'Daily News' and HabariLeo yesterday that the move is part of incentives the TPA has introduced to attract more customers to use the Mtwara Port.
He said another incentive include significant reduction of wharfage charges from one per cent to 0.5 per cent of CFA value, instead of 1 per cent, which is in accordance with the tariffs charged at other ports.
He said customers using Mtwara Port are provided with 30 per cent reduction of Stevedoring and shore handling charges.
"This is the second year since such incentives were introduced and we are now experiencing sharp increase of cargo being shipped via Mtwara Port," he said.
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This similar incentive is also provided for customers transporting crops including cashew nuts, whereby the wharfage charges are 0.5 per cent be it for containerised or loose cargo.
He implored customers to opt for Mtwara Port, since services are provided 24/7 with the use of electronic systems (Harbour View System, e-billing and payment system).
Before expansion project, Mtwara Port had a berth measuring 385 metres in length with 9.8 metres depth, capable to accommodate ship with the capacity to carry45,000 tonnes of cargo but through the upgrading work that was completed in 2020 to the tune of 157bn/-, including building another berth measuring 300 metre with a depth of 13 metres, capable of accommodating cargo ships, measuring 230 metre in length with the capacity to carry 65,000 tonnes of cargo.
At the old berth, Mtwara Port has three cargo storage yards with a total of 38,000squre metres, capable of storing 4,350 containers (containerised cargo) have nothing to worry when it comes to storage facilities.
