Tanzania Ports Authority

The first formal commercial ports developed in German East Africa was the Tanga Port connected to the Usambara Railway in 1883 and the Dar es Salaam Port connected to the Tanzania Central Railway in 1905. The ports were controlled directly by the railway authorities throughout the colonial period. In 1947 the British government formed the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation.[3] The corporation was formed by merging the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours with the Tanganyika Railway and all Tanganyikan ports and harbours.

After the independence of the respective east African countries the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation continued to facilitate its mandate on the railways and ports until 1967. After 1967 the East African Community decided to separate the Railways and the Harbours Corporation, and in 1969 the East African Harbours Corporation was formed. The East African Harbours Corporation had the authority to run and develop the ports in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.[4] The new company operated for 10 years and ceased operations in 1977 due to the dissolution of the East African Community. Each country formed their respective organisations. In Tanzania, the Tanzania Harbours Authority was formed.[5]

The Tanzania Harbours Authority ran operations from 1977–2005. In Tanzania Ports Authority was established by the Ports Act No. 17 of 2004 as landlord port authority. The act separated waterway operations between the Tanzanian mainland and Zanzibar and gave TPA the authority over all lake ports on the Tanzanian mainland. The act incorporated the company into a Parastatal and therefore reducing governmental authority over the company.[6]

The Tanzania Ports Authority is a Parastatal company wholly owned by the Government of Tanzania. The company is managed by a board of 5–8 members and a chairman who is appointed by the president. The organisation comes under the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication and the ministry has the power to assign board members. The company has a similar management structure to any major company and in addition to this each major ocean and lake port has a port master in charge of operations.[7]

The key trends for the company over recent years are shown below (as at year ending 31 June):

The head office of Tanzania Ports Authority is based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania at the Dar es Salaam Port. In 2015 construction was completed on their new headquarters. The 40-storey building is currently the tallest building in the country and was built by the Estim Construction.

This is the principal port of Tanzania and handles 90% of the countries cargo traffic.[15] The port is divided into two parts (TICTS and TPA), to increase efficiency and encourage new challenges to the local port operators the TPA has authorised TICTS privately owned by Hong Kong investors to receive and clear cargo at the port. The Port also provides a vital transit point for cargo from multiple neighbouring landlocked countries. Almost 35 percent of all cargo moving through the port is transit cargo. The port is connected to two railways the Tanzania Central Railway and the TAZARA Railway, but the railways have been depreciating in reliability. The majority of the cargo moves out by road and has been a major bottleneck in expansion plans due to the weak road infrastructure of the city.[16]
Major expansion projects have been set in place to increase the capacity and efficiency of the port. After the construction of the Kigamboni bridge in the city the port plans to create more berths in Kigamboni.[3] Furthermore, the construction of the Bagamoyo mega port has also begun set to help take the load off in 2018.[17]

The Port of Tanga is one of the oldest operating port in the country and was built by the German East Africa Company as the endpoint of the Usambara Railway. The port is the second largest port operating in the country and has an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes and is running at 90% capacity.[18] The Ports authority has major plans to upgrade the port increase capacity and provide an alternative route for cargo flowing into the country.[19]

The port of Mtwara was built during the British Colonial times. The harbour at the Port of Mtwara was deepened during 1948–1954, and railway line was built connecting the port, as part of the Tanganyika groundnut scheme. The port was functional but underused for many years due to poor transport infrastructure,[20] However, in 2010–2011, oil and gas exploration activity caused a surge on operations.[21] In December 2015 Alistair Freeports Limited injected $700,000 to construct an export processing zone around the port area.[22]

TPA's major port in the Lake Victoria region is in Mwanza and TPA maintains an office in Mwanza. Mwanza port handled over 350,000 tonnes of cargo in 2012. TPA maintains around 20 ports on the lake, some major ports include Bukoba, Kemondo Bay, Musoma and Nansio. All other ports on the lake have minor passenger and fishing activity.[24]

Principal lake ports on Tanganyika include Kigoma and Kasanga, with an office in Kigoma; there are 15 smaller ports along the lake. These ports provide vital trade connections between Burundi, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.

Lake Nyasa/Lake Malawi has four important ports, at Itungi, Mbamba Bay, Liuli and Manda; TPA maintains a Kyela District office. There are up to 10 other smaller TPA ports on the lake that facilitate passenger movement along the lake and between the countries of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. The port at Kyela District provides an alternative route for cargo bound of Malawi from the Dar es Salaam Port.