Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has been told by government to find a competent investor to enable the port to move forward and become efficient.
The instruction from Infrastructure Development Minister Shukuru Kawambwa comes several months after TPA removed a monopoly on container handling at the port of Dar es Salaam which was held by Philippine-based Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS).
Kawambwa also instructed TPA to undertake a study of successful ports around the world and to learn from them.
Dissatisfied with the lack of apparent progress at the port, and the container terminal in particular where congestion was the order of the day, government sought ways of removing TICT’s concession to operate the container terminal. After being dissuaded by the financial implications, an agreement was reached with the terminal operator that another would be allowed in to help develop the port and container handling to the level required. TPA was charged with this but has so far been unsuccessful in attracting additional investors.
Although TICTS appeared to have been targeted with the blame for the ongoing congestion at Dar es Salaam, the Tanzania Revenue Authority also came in for some stick for ships being delayed for nearly a month before berthing, leading to large volumes of cargo being diverted after lines opted to bypass the Tanzanian port and take cargo to Mombasa instead.
The minister said he had information that the process of identifying potential investors for the construction of additional jetties to handle container ships had been started. He said he would taken on the oversight of the port operation once another investor had been found, to avoid any pitfalls such as occurred when TICTS held an absolute monopoly at the port.
“The Board has to be careful about entering into an operations contract in order to protect the national interests and avoid being at risk of entering into dubious contracts,” he said.
Kawambwa called for strategies that would prevent any further loss or theft from the port, and the reduction of delays on cargo clearing because of overbearing bureaucracy, which he said was one of the main reasons why many port users had taken their business elsewhere for cargo clearing and forwarding.
Cargo should not remain in the port for longer than 10 days, he suggested, and said that options to discharge cargo onto lighters outside the port was one possible solution to help ease the delays.
Meanwhile, Tanzania Ports Authority has had to react to news that Zambia was being wooed by the Mozambique port of Beira (see yesterday’s news in PORTS & SHIPS). This came during a visit to Mozambique by Zambia’s President Rupiah Banda, who said Zambia would consider making Beira its major port for geographic reasons.
Speaking last week to a Tanzanian newspaper, the Citizen, TPA Communications Manager Franklin Mziray said he remained confident that Zambia would continue using Dar es Salaam for its copper exports.
“Zambia has been using Beira and other ports for some time now but it has almost always continued using Dar port for its copper exports, we are confident this will continue,” he said. With Chinese investment in Tazara (the railway connecting Dar es Salaam with Zambia and the Copperbelt) it is expected that the railway will again become competitive and that cargo volumes can be increased from the current 15,000 tonnes a month to at least 72,000t monthly. Currently, 97 percent of all imports and exports to and from Zambia now go by road.
….As CMA CGM Opens Talks with Lebanese Investors
• Mikati Group said to be negotiating investment in French ocean container carrier
CMA CGM is negotiating with a Lebanese group about investing in the French ocean container carrier, according to French press reports.
The family-owned Mikati Group, known as MI, is the latest company linked to attempts by CMA CGM to tap outside investment as part of a restructuring of its $5.3 billion debt taken on to increase its fleet, the world’s third largest.
There are reports the Marseilles-based carrier also is holding talks with a Turkish group.
CMA CGM previously held talks with Belgian billionaire financier Albert Frere and FSI, France’s strategic investment fund, and was reported close to selling a 30 percent stake for $650 million.
The talks appear to have stalled in early August though none of the parties involved have commented on the current status of negotiations.
CMA CGM, which is controlled by the Saade family, earlier broke off talks with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, claiming its conditions for a deal were too onerous.
The Mikati group is a broadly based holding company with a controlling stake in MTN, a South African telecoms company, a high end fashion business, and real estate, including properties in London and New York. It is also a shareholder in baboo, a Swiss low cost airline.
The group is headed by Najib Mikati, a former Lebanese prime minister, and his brother Taha. Each has a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
CMA CGM’s founding owner Jacques Saade is of Lebanese descent
Modernisation of Luanda Port May Gulp US$ 56.5 Million
The modernisation work underway at container Terminal II at the port of Luanda will, in the short term, reduce ship congestion along the coast of the Angolan capital, according to the coordinator of the management commission of the National Agency for Private Investment (ANIP).
At the end of a ceremony which saw the signing of an investment contract worth US$ 56.5 million by terminal management company Sociedade Gestora de Terminais (Sogester) and ANIP, Aguinaldo Jaime said that it was fundamental for the country to have efficient port facilities so that ships did not have extended stays, which could affect the quality of services to the detriment of consumers.
Angola, he said, was essentially an importing country, despite undergoing a process of diversification of its economy. He added that, “we have to continue, for some time, to be an importing country.”
In his turn, the assistant director general of Sogester, Anatólio Barreira, noted that the investment had made it possible to employ new staff and would help to improve working conditions at Terminal II and to improve the waiting period for ships in the port of Luanda in general.
According to Barreira, the investment was mainly intended to remodel and modernise sections of the port of Luanda and to import modern cargo-handling infrastructure to handle cargo more efficiently.
Investigators Conclude Probe Into Hijack of MV Arctic Sea
The investigation into the criminal case over the capture of the Russian Arctic Sea bulk carrier, a lawyer of one of the defendants told Itar-Tass.
“The probe is completed; we’re familiarizing ourselves with the case materials,” Yelena Lebedeva-Romanova said.
She said after reading the case materials, the defense might lodge petitions to carry out additional investigative actions, such as face-to-face questionings or expert examinations.
“This is a complex criminal case; some circumstances require special knowledge, such as seafaring expertise. The criminal case comprises 38 volumes,” she added.
On Wednesday, the Moscow City Court extended the arrest of two suspects in the case by four months to December 18. The court is to review custody extension requests for other suspects shortly.
Earlier, two suspects announced the so-called “plea bargain.” They fully confessed to the crime and the court has already handed down verdicts for them.
Lebedeva-Romanova stated that none of the six remaining suspects had decided on plea bargain and that many had refused to testify.
The Arctic Sea bulk carrier under the Maltese flag, manned by a crew of 15 Arkhangelsk sailors, was to have arrived in Bejaia, Algeria, with a load of sawn timber from Finland on August 4, 2009. The contact with the ship was lost on July 28. Subsequent reports said a high-speed inflatable boat carrying eight people approached the vessel in Sweden’s territorial waters on July 24.
The people claimed they had problems with their boat and came on board the Arctic Sea. Crewmembers said they were clad in black uniforms sporting the word POLICIA on their backs.
Threatening to use weapons, they demanded unquestionable compliance with all their instructions. The vessel then sailed along the route designated by the captors toward Africa with deactivated navigation equipment.
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