Tanzania is mulling over a $6 million modernisation plan for Dar es Salaam port that will reduce cargo dwelling time from the current 11 days to five days thereby boost efficiency.
Analysts say this could save traders $42.8 million annually and give the port an edge over Mombasa, its main competitor. Tanzania Ports Authority director general Ephraim Mgawe said that the works to implement the single electric window project are expected towards the end of the year.
Tanzania is mulling over a $6 million modernisation plan for Dar es Salaam port that will reduce cargo dwelling time from the current 11 days to five days thereby boost efficiency.
Analysts say this could save traders $42.8 million annually and give the port an edge over Mombasa, its main competitor. Tanzania Ports Authority director general Ephraim Mgawe said that the works to implement the single electric window project are expected towards the end of the year.
Mr Mgawe said a steering committee and secretariat have been set up while tender documents for the project have already been prepared.
According to Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (TAFFA) president Otieno Igogo, the system will greatly reduce human intervention, which would lead to a great reduction in chances of corruption while helping to create a data bank.
Mr Igogo said the new electronic platform would enable stakeholders, operating under a port community system, make submissions for clearance electronically, in the process bring about more transparency as all people connected to the system would be able to access all information submitted.
The single electric window (SEW) will also enable regulatory agencies, besides the Tanzania Revenue Authority to access information. According to plans, the system should be in place by July 2012.
Dar has recently embarked on numerous projects to ease congestion at the port. This has included the creation of inland container depots (ICDs), creating more berths and dredging of the inlet to the port.
The ICDs are located in different parts of Dar es Salaam. These have greatly eased the congestion that was experienced by motorists using the Nelson Mandela Port access road.
"The system was already being applied at the Port of Singapore and Mauritius. In the latter, the system has advanced such that it is being used to collect revenue whereby the system alerts the relevant revenue collection agencies whenever information is logged into the system," said Mr Igogo.
Ghana, too, applies the single electric window (SEW). The project has been funded by the World Bank through the East African Community Transport and Trade Facilitation Project.
The government and stakeholders have already engaged a consultant to look at the legal framework, before it embarked on the project. It is currently looking for competent suppliers in order to be on schedule.
Some suppliers had already made presentations and what remained was to pick the best. Mombasa port is also working on putting in place the same system.
Early this year the Dar port increased its container handling capacity by 12.5 per cent thanks to the scrapping of the monopoly clause that restricted containers handling task to the Tanzania International Containers Terminal Service (TICTS).
Since the Tanzania Government abolished TICTS monopoly on handling containerised cargo in 2009, the containers handled by the port have increased from 307,986 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2009 to 455,279 TEUs in 2010.
Dwell time has also been reduced from a high of 24 to 11. Container handling at Dar port is now undertaken by two organisations: TICTS and the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA).
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