Tanga Port is Coming of Age!
With nearly 310 ships now docking at the port of Tanga annually, the anchorage has collected over 49.844 billion/- in revenues realized within the six months period between July 2024 and January 2025.
According to the harbour management, the sum is an increase of 11.143 billion/- compared to what was collected at the port during the financial year 2023/24 and an average earning of 9 billion/- per month.
The Manager in charge of the Port of Tanga, Masoud Mrisha, explained that the impressive improvement in the revenue collection was due to major infrastructural developments that the sixth phase government has been undertaking at the Northern sea gate.
“During the fiscal years 2019/2022 and 2022/23, Tanga Port saw a growing revenue collection from 17.233bn/- to 38.701bn/-, being an increase of at least 17.682bn/-,” Mrisha stated.
According to Mrisha, the government through the Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) has been implementing projects valued at 429.1 billion/- in upgrading and expanding the northern anchorage at Tanga.
The projects were implemented by the Chinese Engineering Company (CHEC) through two major phases, and so far, the seaport facility located at Tanga Bay, is starting to reap gains.
Upgrading projects include the expansion of the entrance channel and turning basin, procurement of 13 new relevant machineries, construction of a special Information Communication Technology hub, and the installation of an auxiliary power station and pump house, implemented to the tune of 256.8 billion/-.
The cargo handling capacity at the Tanga Port has thus been boosted from 750,000 tons to 3,000,000.
“The port used to handle 470,611 tons during the 2019/2020 financial year but from the 2023/2024 fiscal year the harbour took care of more than 1.2 million tons, which is an increase of about 720,869 tonnages,” Mrisha pointed out.
The manager added that the initiative has also increased the anchorage’s vessels handling capacity from the previous 118 ships to the current 307 liners.
It has also gotten cheaper, the port management has waived some unnecessary tariffs for clients including the previous USD 1.3 levy per ton which has been scrapped.
The number of clients is also surging. Tanga Port has attracted liners from some of the world’s leading operators such as the Seafront Shipping Services Limited which ferries cargos directly from China to Tanzania through the northern seaport.
Tanga Port also now works with over 200 registered clear and forward companies, creating employment to nearly 20,000 local residents.
The Port of Tanga is the second largest port in Tanzania after Dar-es-salaam and competes directly with the Mombasa Port on the other side of the border in Kenya.
Meanwhile President Samia Suluhu Hassan in on official tour of Tanga Region.