President Samia questions inspection of vehicles at Dar Port
Cars are driven off the giant vehicles carrier Tranquil Ace at Dar es Salaam Port. The ship, which arrived with a cargo of 3, 743 vehicles, is the biggest vessel to have docked at Tanzania's largest and busiest port, according to the Tanzania Ports Authority. PHOTO | LOVENESS BERNARD
What you need to know:
- This, according to her, causes unnecessary delays for ships that would like to offload because the same area that is supposed to be for offloading is where the vehicles are being inspected.
Dodoma. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has on March 30, questioned the rationale behind vehicles that are imported being inspected in on arrival at the port.
This, according to her, causes unnecessary delays for ships that would like to offload because the same area that is supposed to be for offloading is where the vehicles are being inspected.
“We do not manufacture any vehicles in Tanzania, why don’t we have an agency at their point of origin instead of bringing that task here. Because even if you inspect it here you are not the manufacturer,” she said.
She instructed the Premier Kassim Majaliwa to find out if it is really necessary for the vehicles to be inspected locally as opposed to the country of origin.
In April 2021, the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) began inspection of vehicles at Dar es Salaam port upon arrival, with owners paying $150 (Sh346,500) as inspection fee.
The decision was made after TBS was deemed to have already built capacity of their vehicle inspectors, and that it was only fair that they started practicing what they have been trained to do at great cost.
“Any vehicles that will be inspected at the port and are found not to comply with the requirements will have to undergo upgrading and further inspection at the UDA yard adjacent to Dar es Salaam port before they are cleared and allowed on public roads,” TBS head of communications Roida Andusamile told The Citizen then.
