PORT OF DAR ES SALAAM

TANZANIA PORTS AUTHORITY
tel +255 22 211 6258

Head Office email: dp@tanzaniaports.com

Port of Dar es Salaam

The Port Manager
Main Quay Number 1
P.O. Box 1130
Dar Es Salaam

Tel: +255-22-2110401/9 or +255 211 3642

Fax: +255-22-211 3646

E-mail: pmdsm@ports.go.tz

 

PORT CONTACT DETAILS

Port of Dar es Salaam: tel +255 22 211 0401/9 or +255 22 211 7816

Port Manager: tel +255 22 211 3642 (or +255 22 211 00401/9)

Port Control: n/a

Port Captain: n/a

Public Relations: n/a

website:
www.ports.go.tz

Port email address:
pmdsm@ports.go.tz

 

BACKGROUND

Dar es Salaam is the principal port of Tanzania and the country’s main gateway not only to Tanzania’s hinterland and the Great Lakes region but also plays a major role in the economies of the neighbouring states of Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi and the eastern DRC. In total the port handles about 95 percent of Tanzania’s international trade.

The port, which is administered and managed by the state-owned Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is connected with these regions by road and by rail. The rail corridors include a metre-gauge rail service to the Tanzanian lake port of Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika, another to Tanzania’s port of Mwanza on Lake Victoria, and a third to Zambia, the DRC and Zimbabwe via the Cape gauge (3ft 6ins) TAZARA railway system. A new standard gauge (4ft 8½ins) railway from Dar es Salaam to the Great Lakes region is currently under construction with the eventual intention of connecting Dar es Salaam with Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda as well as the Eastern DRC.

PORT VOLUMES

In the fiscal year 2013/14 the port of Dar es Salaam handled a total of 14.314 million tons of cargo (2012/13: 12.531mt).

Vessel calls at Dar es Salaam during the 2013/14 financial year totalled 1,487 all types – 31.277mt gross tonnage (2012/13: 1,366 all types, 24.860mt gt)

Container volumes

For the financial year 2013/14 the two container terminals at Dar es Salaam handled the following:

TICTS: 404,100 TEU (2012/13: 399,961 TEU); General Cargo Terminal: 186,663 TEU (2012/13: 153,091 TEU) for a combined total at the port of 590,763 TEU (2012/13: 585,585 TEU).

PORT FACILITIES

The port of Dar es Salaam consists of 11 berths with a total length of over 2,000 metres. The terminals are partially privatised, including one of two container terminals. The design capacity of the port is said to be 3.1 million tons of general cargo, 6 million tons of liquid bulk cargo, and 1 million tons of containerised cargo but efforts are underway to increase the various capacities.

MARINE SERVICES

The Port of Dar es Salaam employs the following marine craft:

* 6 Berthing Tugs
* 16 Lighter Towing Tugs
* 4 Lighters
* 2 Labour Launches
* 2 Pilot Boats
* 2 Patrol Boats
* 13 Mooring Boats

OTHER PORTS

The TPA administers a number of other of what may be called minor ports and harbours along the sea coast and on the lakes. Some of these such as Tanga (a lighterage port) in the north and Mtwara some 360 nautical miles to the south of Dar es Salaam are likely to experience expansion in order to serve the oil and gas sector. Mtwara has a deepwater quay. Several of the lakeside ports are due to undergo modernisation and improvements in anticipation of a greater dependency on lake transport as part of the logistic chain.

The cargo handled in tons at these ports for the 2013/14 fiscal year – the latest available) is as follows:

Tanga 368,000 tons (2012/13: 457,537)
Mtwara 356,000 tons (2012/13: 203,644)
Kilwa, Lindi & Mafia 54,000 tons (2912/13: 49,148)
Mwanza  217,940 tons (2012/13: 360,891)
Kigoma 88,386 tons (2012/13: 81,880)
Kyela 6,319 tons (2012/13: 29,614)

Passenger Traffic

Tanzania relies to a large extent on water-borne passenger traffic, including ferries that operate between the offshore islands as well as passenger traffic on the lakes. In total Tanzania handled 2,175,805 passengers during the 2013/14 period (1,802,773 in 2012/13).

Shipping Services

For cargo owners, the port offers a wide range of shipping services to key destinations around the world. Tanzania’s major markets comprise China, India, South East Asia, Europe, the Americas and the rest of Africa. There are regular services between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, Maputo, Durban, Mogadishu, Djibouti, Salalah and Dubai.

Fully Cellular Container Services

Six fully cellular container services call at Dar es Salaam:

PIL – East Africa Service 2 : ships average 2500TEU
CMA CGM – ASEA / ATX : ships average 2500 TEU
CMA CGM / Emirates – SWAX2 / GIA : ships average 2900 TEU
Maersk / Safmarine – Masika Express : ships average 2800 TEU
MSC – New Cheetah service : ships average 3100 TEU
Maersk – Mashariki Express : ships average 3600 TEU

Ro-Ro Services

Ignazio Messina Line – scheduled calls at Durban, Maputo, Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Red Sea and Italy
Ro-Ro vehicle carriers – scheduled calls by the main vehicle carrier lines.