TICTS invest 40bn/- for buying quay cranes

TICTS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Wallace, speaking in Dar es Salaam, described the investment as the company's response to customer demands for facility upgrades at the country's busy port.

'Owing to globalisation and economies of scale, vessels are increasingly becoming larger, requiring deeper water, longer quays and bigger cranes,' said the CEO.

The newly procured cranes, scheduled for delivery by the year end and described as larger than those delivered in 2014 and 2011, will comfortably handle 5000teu vessels, significantly improving performance at the port 'Once seen as inefficient.

TICTS is now driving levels of efficiency not previously experienced at the port...it has more than doubled its operational performance,' said Mr Wallace, assuring that days of seeing container ships off Coco Beach have long gone. He said the upgrade in cranes was just the beginning of an ambitious expansion drive to enable the port accommodate even larger vessels simultaneously.

'We need to expand our footprint, seriously open up the port and build a long quay on deep water to accommodate larger vessels simultaneously,' he said, underscoring the need for concerted efforts to develop the national port as a large international hub, opening up trade to small regional ports like Zanzibar, Tanga and Pemba.

Despite the seasonal downturn in business volumes that the Dar es Salaam port is going through, Mr Wallace expressed confidence over the bouncing back of business.

'We have to build now and take hold of our future ... Dar port is best placed as we are geographically situated in a great location, right on the shipping lanes,' he said, noting that investment in the use of rail was inevitable to connect the landlocked countries, which depend on Dar as their window to global trade.

TICTS, which is managed by Hutchison Ports, a global port operator with 48 ports spanning 25 countries, has invested 200bn/- in new assets over the past 10 years and remains keen to expand under Public Private Partnership with its landlord, Tanzania Ports Authority. 'We simply need more cohesion with all stakeholders to make our port a great trading hub once again,' said Mr Wallace.

SOURCE: DAILY NEWS

• 558