An emergency programme to curb congestion of vessels and containers at the Dar es Salaam port has been launched by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA).
Jason Rugaihuruza, port manager, said the move follows directives from the government through the Minister for Infrastructure Development that an emergency programme should be brought up to speed to solve the congestion problem at the port.
The programme was put into action on February 29 and so far a thousand containers have been offloaded to Zanzibar. More than 800 containers were transferred to internal containers depots, the manager said.
Until late Tuesday the number of containers at yards of the Tanzania International Container Terminals (TICTS) had been reduced from 11,000 to 8,900.
The aim was to reach 7,500 containers, the maximum capacity the TICTS facility handles, he said. When the containers reach 6,200, facilities at the TICTS would handle the situation more efficiently and more speed.
About 1,407 containers were removed from the container terminal, cutting the container load to 4,957 within the TICTS yard, he said
The port manager urged customers to finish the documentation, including payments and clearance at Customs departments early and increase speed in taking cargo, to help speed up container clearances. Containers stay at the port for 24 days on average.
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