Dar es Salaam Port Taps Regional Market with Multimodal Upgrades

 

In an effort to boost Dar es Salaam’s port status as a regional logistics hub, the Tanzanian government is working to improve trade efficiency with its landlocked neighbors. These efforts culminated last week with the signing of $1.4 billion deal to refurbish the Tanzania-Zambia railway (Tazara). China will finance the project, one year after it signed the initial agreement with both the Tanzanian and Zambian governments.

Under the agreement, the state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) was awarded a 30-year concession to re-build the Tazara line. The construction of the 1,155-mile single-track railway was completed in 1976, still with financial backing from China.

With Zambia planning to triple its copper output by 2031, the rehabilitation of Tazara is a major step in the growth of the country’s extractive sector. For many years, copper production in Zambia is stuck at around 800,000 tonnes per year despite rising global demand. A transport infrastructure upgrade is therefore seen as an opportunity to boost market access. In addition, the Tazara line will help Zambian copper exports bypass recent bottlenecks on the South African route.

But most importantly, Tazara will cement Dar es Salaam as regional trade hub in East Africa. In the past few years, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa ports have been competing to expand their inland reach, often enticing their landlocked neighbors with cargo transit incentives.

Last month, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu announced a series of reforms intended to ease cargo transit between Tanzania and Zambia. This includes expansion of the Tanzam highway, which links the two countries. The government plans to expand the road into a four-lane highway from the Tunduma border town to Igawa, a distance of 43 miles. With increased truck traffic and congestion on the route, the expansion will greatly improve cargo movement. There are also plans to build an 1,800-acre dry port along the Tanzam highway. 

According to Tanzania’s government data, cargo volumes destined for Zambia have risen to 9 million tons as of last year from 3.7 million tons. The rise in cross-border trade, coupled with ongoing infrastructure upgrades, has seen Dar es Salaam record massive growth in cargo volumes. The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) recently revealed that the Port of Dar es Salaam handled a record 27.7 million tons of cargo in the 2024/24 financial year, up from 23.69 million tons in 2023/24. This represents a 15 percent annual growth, which TPA attributes to successful port reforms and strong private-sector engagement. Specifically, the operations by the DP World and the Tanzania East Africa Gateway Terminal Limited (TEAGTL) have been a game-changer for the Port of Dar es Salaam.

Top image courtesy Prof. Chen Hualin / CC BY SA 3.0