Port Overview

The port of Dar es Salaam is one of East Africa's leading freight gateways – a growing entry and exit of goods for local market and to many landlocked countries across East and Central Africa. The port is the Indian ocean entry point of a complex logistics network stretching much of central Africa. The port handles about 95 percent of Tanzania International trade across 11 deep-water berths. Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) operates seven berths while four are under consortium with Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS). (TPA Handbook, 2016).

The port is accessible via 3-5km entrance channel that can allow vessels of up to 234 meters LOA and 140 meters breadth with a depth of 10.5 meters at Chart Datum. The port has a total quay length of 2.6 km with 11 Berths at Main Quay plus a Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) and a dedicated berthing area for coastal vessel at the lighterage Quay. Berths number 1 to 7 has a depth between 8.7 and 10.5 meters for general cargo vessels. Berths No. 8 to 11 have an average depth of 11.0 meters and are mainly dedicated to container vessels. (TPA Handbook, 2016).

The port also has Grain Terminal facility (silos with storage capacity of 30,000 mt).

TPA is implementing a number of major projects including the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP) which will allow the reception of larger vessels. Port modernization projects include strengthening and deepening of berths 1-7 and RORO terminal, dredging of entrance channel, turning circle and harbour basin, strengthening and deepening 8-11, and construction of a new terminal jet

Key port information can also be found at:

Website of the Maritime Database on the Port of Dar es Salaam 

Port Picture

The port of Dar es Salaam is located on the north bank of the canal and it comprises 11 berths.

Description and Contacts of Key Companies

The main companies operating at the port of Dar es Salaam are TICTS operating four container berths namely berth No. 8, 9, 10 and 11. AZAM MARINE operate passenger ship between Dar-Zanzibar.

For more information on port contacts, please see the following link: 4.4 Tanzania Port and Waterways Company Contact List

Port Performance

In Eastern Africa, the Tanzanian corridor is an important transit for imports activities, in which the port of Dar es Salaam plays a central role. In 2016, the volume of the port has reached by 13.8 million tons. Over the last 5 years, the port has shown an annual average growth of 9% of its volume of activity and long-term projection suggests that the Port’s volume could double by 2030. (World Bank report, July 2017)

The container vessels were queuing for 10 days on average (up to a maximum of 25 days in some cases) to get a berth in the port even if this delay seems decreasing. The delays are exacerbated by limitations in operational efficiency at the quay and lack of storage which in turn lengthen the time required to unload and load a container ship, as well as inadequate integration between key actors. The delays to complete the entire process take days and the space in the terminals is limited. Thus, the containers are often moved to an Inland Container Depot (ICD) near the port, where removal charges and storage costs are applicable to the cargo. (World Bank report, July 2017)

Discharge Rates and Terminal Handling Charges

TPA terminal tariff book:

http://tanzania.eregulations.org/media/TPA%20A5%20Tariff%20Book.pdf

TICTS terminal tariff book:

http://ticts.net/documents/

Berthing Specifications

General Cargo Handling Berths

The general cargo berths have a total quay length of 1,478m which are equipped with varied handling equipment such as portal cranes, mobile cranes, front loaders, reach stackers, forklifts, tractors and trailers. The port has storage area of 56,800 m² for 8 main quay sheds, 18,260 m² for 3 transit sheds and open storage area of 82,700 m²

Port Handling Equipment

The port handling equipment are owned and maintained by TPA. The port has equipment available with varied capacity. The major equipment for handling general cargo are portal cranes, forklifts, tractors, trailers, grabs, hoppers, dump trucks, weighbridges, and conveyor belts. Container handling equipment include Ship to Shore Gantry cranes (SSGs), Rubber Tyred Gantry cranes (RTGs) and Rail Mounted Gentry Crane (RMG), Gottwalds, highway trucks, folk lift trucks, Highway trailers, Terminal tractors and Trailers.

Container Facilities

The port is equipped with various container facilities such as portal cranes, mobile harbour cranes, front loaders, reach stackers, forklifts, tractors and trailers.

Customs Guidance

The main activities at the port customs include tax collection as well as monitoring and control of unauthorized cargo entries. The volumes of cargo at the port is high which can cause delays in the customs clearance process. The customs offices are located outside the port areas operating at 24/7. The customs clearance process is done electronically through TANCIS.

For more information on customs in Tanzania, please see the following link: 1.3 Tanzania Customs Information.

Terminal Information

Multipurpose Terminal

Dar es Salaam port has multipurpose terminals such as container, general cargo, dry bulky cargo, jet fuel terminal situated at Kurasini, passenger, ferry and RORO terminals with well installed facilities. The oil jetty terminal has a draft of 11.5metres. There are two oil terminals, the single point Mooring (SPM) and Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ) with a draft of 11.5metres. The SPM is an offshore tanker berth for handling exclusively crude and refined oil. It has capacity to accommodate tankers of up to 150,000 deadweight tons with fast discharge speed (flow rate of 2,500 cubic meters per hour for crude oil).

Grain and Bulk Handling 

The break-bulk section of a port has a quay of 1,478 meters comprising of 7 main quays. Dar es Salaam Port has grain handling facility and silos with the capacity of 30,000 metric tons. Grains can be discharged and bagged along the quay at an average of more than 2,000 tons in 24 hours, or transferred to silo using dump trucks. The grain terminal has concrete silos, fumigation, aeration and temperature control facilities. However, the silos would require upgrade investment and the addition of a conveyor would improve the performance.

Main Storage Terminal 

The port provides both open and covered storage; it has silos for grains at any time of need and maintains storage yards for containers, motors vehicles and general cargo. It has transit sheds of 64,463 of total floor square meters and open storage of 201,613 as well as silos which can store up to 30,000 tonnes of grains.

Stevedoring

The main stevedoring activities in Dar es Salaam port are to discharge and load general cargoes from/to the vessels. TPA provides stevedoring to all geared vessels on a 24-hour basis. The shift performance on general cargo is 200 tonnes per gang per shift and 60 TUE on containerized cargo per gang per shift (TPA Handbook, 2016)

Hinterland Information

Movement of the cargo (both local and transit) from and to the port is by railway (operated by TRL and TAZARA) and roads which are paved and in good condition.

Port Security

Security is provided by the port auxiliary police assisted by the private company under the national service in all ports. The ports are also secured by the national police. Safety matters are handled by the department of Fire, Safety, Health and Environment. To ensure customer confidence, TPA has invested in the latest security systems and in vitally human resources. It includes the purchase of new patrol boats, new electronic surveillance equipment such as installation of CCTV, a modern access control system and screening machines comprising walk through detectors and X-ray equipment. The Authority also has installed integrated security system (ISS) which was commissioned in late 2015. (TPA Handbook, 2016)