Milestone as the Dar Port receives largest ship ever

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s principal port of Dar es Salaam yesterday received its biggest cargo vessel ever, a historic milestone that would build both domestic and foreign confidence on the capacity of the facility, Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) revealed.

With a length of 199.95 metres and width of 32.2 metres, the Tranquil Ace (IMO: 9561253), arrived at the Dar Port after midnight of August 10, 2021 and expected to leave the port today August 11, 2021.

The ship was carrying 3,743 vehicles, of which 2,945 vehicles (65 percent) were in transit to other countries and the remaining 798 vehicles were for Tanzania.

TPA’s director general Eric Hamissi told The Citizen that the handling and clearing of cargo from such a big ship will automatically market Tanzanian ports across the globe.

He said, “This means exporters and shipping lines have confidence in the port of Dar es Salaam. It means a lot, because this is a direct shipping. It came direct from Japan to Dar es Salaam.”

“Going forward we expect more ships. If we have demonstrated we can handle such big shipping lines with such consignment with this kind of volume,” he said.

According to the Port authority, the last largest cargo vessel was carrying 2,600 vehicles.

“This is a huge milestone for Tanzania since no other country in the East and Southern region with the exception of from South Africa has ever handled this much volume,” said the director general.

The branch manager of the shipping service company that handled the big vessel, Inchcape Shipping Services, Mr John Massawe, said this was the start of a new journey to effectively use the Dar port to its full capacity.

He said, “This has built confidence, because we have never seen such a big ship dock at our port. Thus, for businesses it is an opportunity to now utilize the port.”

Mr Massawe said in its direct route, the ship spend 20 days from Japan direct to Dar, which is less than the usual 30 days.

Moreover, TPA’s boss Hamissi said the Dar port has performed well in the previous two months of June and July 2021, compared to the same period last year.

He said the port handled 1,192,000 tonnes and 1,455,000 tonnes of cargo in June and July, 2021 respectively, higher than 934,000 tonnes and 1,187,000 tonnes in June and July 2020.

“The number of ships docking at the port has also increased as in July 2021 we received 136 ships while there were 116 ships by June 2020,” he said.

This year, the port has picked a good momentum regardless of the Covid-19 woos, said Mr Hamissi.