Tanzania: Rise in Lake Victoria cargo sends Port Authority’s earnings up by 55pc

Mwanza. A rise in cargo, handled at the Mwanza Port, sent revenues for Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) up by 54.6 per cent during the first ten months of the current financial year compared to the entire previous financial year.

The acting Mwanza Port manager, Mr Geofrey Lwesya, said here on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, that a total of Sh1.138 billion was collected during the first ten months of 2018/19.

During the entire 2017/18 financial year, a total of Sh619.71 million was garnered.

The rise explains an abrupt increase in the volume of cargo handled at Mwanza Port during the period.

Cargo volume rose to 146,287 tonnes during the period between July, 2018 and May, 2019.

That was a 72 per cent rise from the 84,615.178 tonnes that was handled in the 2017/18 financial year.

The rise in cargo came as a surprise, considering that the volume has been declining during the past years from a pick of 213,311 in 2013/14.

Mr Lwesya attributed the drop to a fall in efficiency of shipping services in Lake Victoria.

“The drop is also attributable to a fall in efficiency of services at the central railway line services. The trains, plying the railway line, used to furnish the port with a lot of cargo. We also attribute the fall to a drop in the number of ships plying in Lake Victoria,” he said.