Uganda importers ditch Mombasa

A Delegation of 15 traders from Uganda yesterday met with various stakeholders at the Dar es Salaam port for discussions where they agreed to continue using the port after resolving past challenges which had previously threatened future co-operation. 

The head of the delegation of the Uganda business community, Mr Lukyamuzi Wangi, who is also a Director General for Ludawa Enterprises, said his firm had stopped using the port of Dar es Salaam “for some time” during which they moved to other ports following misleading reports that Dar faced “so many challenges” in handling transit cargo.

"We had been misled that the port of Dar es Salaam had so many challenges … including high tariffs, delayed transit cargo (to Uganda) due to poor infrastructure and road barriers … and insecurity of cargo during transportation," he explained. Now he says: “We have now visited the port and witnessed (the) satisfactory services available at the port currently.”

He also pledges to persuade fellow Ugandan traders to “feel comfortable” and continue using the port because its services at the port and its means of transport for their transit goods had since “become so friendly.”

At the same occasion, Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) Director General, Eng Deosdedit Kakoko said Uganda was one of its major stakeholders in the use of the Port of Dar es Salaam, where huge amounts of transit goods passed.

He said the port was handling at least 30 per cent of transit goods before the misleading reports, which then dropped down to a paltry three per cent in the recent years when most of them started using Mombasa port in Kenya.

"Our statistics showed that Uganda was passing over 6,000 tons of cargo through the port of Mombasa per year … that was a great amount of cargo that shows how much revenue Dar had been missing," he said.

Eng. Kakoko said after that discovery, TPA then went to Uganda and talked to them, understood their immediate needs and ultimately came to an understanding … on how best they could continue using the port of Dar es Salaam.

"After the talks, we invited them over … for a visit at our port and witness our ability to provide good services … they are also witness to our good infrastructure … that are satisfactory and so they agreed to continue using our port,” Kakoko explained.

He added that security of transit cargo had since greatly improved for with back-up escorts, even as infrastructure is also routinely maintained through regular maintenance of roads, reduced check-points -- from 53 to just three – thereby saving a lot of money between Dar es Salaam and the first entry points to Uganda that would not help them to use just few days en route.

On his part, the Managing Director of the Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL), Mr Masanja Kadogosa, said efforts at improving its services had led to introduction of block-trains that would carry huge amounts of cargo directly to the relevant locations in order to ease the cost and time spent en route.

“These trains will be able to harness 22 wagons that would transport cargo from Dar es Salaam port to Mwanza, from where they would be ferried on Lake Victoria more quickly," Kadogosa explained.