EXPERT: Port scanners too expensive to be underutilized

Three scanners, two fixed at Dar es Salaam port and the other at Tanga port, are too expensive and efficient to be under-utilised or to be left unprotected, it has been revealed.

STARPECO LTD Managing Director, Gratian Nshekanabo, told reporters over the weekend that the machines that are scanning containers are promoting efficiency in ports worldwide.

“These are expensive machines. They will greatly increase efficiency at our ports. They must be protected and used sensibly and prudently,” he cautioned.

The machines, two Gantry Container Scanners, one fixed at Tanga and another at Dar es Salaam, are supported by Mobile Container/Vehicle Scanner fixed on a vehicle and is used in Dar es Salaam port.

STARPECO LTD is a local representative of a Chinese company, NUCTECH, the exporters of the scanners. The scanners have been offered by the Chinese government.

The official said the project started in October 2013 and an agreement to the provision of the machines was signed between Tanzania and China in October 2014.

They were fixed in November 2016 at Dar es Salaam and Tanga ports. “We have waited for too long. We thank the government for the consistent push because we had planned the project to be finished in 2014, but we have finished it three years behind schedule.

I appeal to all to use these machines to increase efficiency in our ports,” he said. Speaking during the launch, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Lu Youqing, said the objective behind the Chinese grant was to make Tanzania attractive to outside investors.

Dr Lu said there are challenges in the port business in East and Southern Africa, explaining that other countries are modernizing their ports to make them attractive to big foreign investors.