Tanga — THE major improvement of Tanga Port which has currently reached 93 per cent guarantee cargo safety since the facility will no longer handle ships through stream operations.
According to Tanga Port Manager Masoud Mrisha since 1,888 to date the gateway has been handling ships through stream operations 1.7 kilometer from the two berths, which were built in 1914 and 1954.
"Stream operations mean large ships could not dock at the berths due to shallow water, therefore, the vessels have to anchor 1.7 kilometers from the berths and offload the cargo which is put in budges and drugged to the berths, where the cargo is offloaded again," he said.
He said the processes caused double handling of the cargo and it also increased the cost of doing business.
Mr Mrisha further said that, it was also risky for some commodities being handled in deep sea.
The port manager, however, said that the ongoing renovation and upgrading of the port guarantee cargo safety because the ship will now dock at the berth and the cargo will be handled directly from the ship.
"The clients will now find it easier to pass their goods through the port because we are now assured of their safety as the ships will be docking at the berths... the port can also handle large ships," Mr Mrisha said.
He noted that, although the port authorities have been working hard to educate clients on safety of their cargo, some of them were not comfortable for their cargo to be discharged in deep sea and the challenge has now been addressed.
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Mr Mrisha said the 172.3bn/- which was dished out for the first phase of the project was used for increasing draft at the entrance channel from 3 metres to 13 metres and its width to 73 metres.
"The monies were also used for increasing draft at the turning basin from 3 to13metres and purchase of equipment ... this project has been completed by 100 per cent," Mr Mrisha said.
The cargo handling equipment purchased through the funds include among others two gottwald, an empty handler with two tonnes capacity, one forklift with 50 tonnes capacity, a forklift with 16 tonnes capacity and two forklifts with five tonnes capacity.
Others are Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) for container delivering and two terminal tractors.
"These equipment will increase efficiency by reducing cargo handling time at the port," Mr Mrisha noted.
He said the second phase of the project worth 256.8bn/- has reached 93 per cent completion and it involves improvement of two shallow water berths which were constructed in 1914 and 1954with a total of 450 metres.
"It is our expectation that upon completion of this project on April this year, the cargo volume will increase because the port will now handle larger vessels which will dock at the berth," he said.
Mr Mrisha said so far the project has reached 93 per cent and 300 metres have already been handed to the port thus vessels with such size can now dock at the facility.
According to him the gateway currently handles 750,000 tonnes of cargo per year but the volume is expected to increase in four folds to 3 million tonnes per year.
