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- Feb 11, 2007
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Container storage charges at Dar port to be raised
By CHRISTINE AFANDI
Special Correspondent
THE EAST AFRICAN
The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is to increase storage charges for all containers at the Dar es Salaam port to discourage port users from turning it into a storage facility.
The Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) is reviewing the proposed increase of between 100 and 150 per cent.
Congestion at the port has hampered its activities, increased service and production costs, caused loss of customers and failure to capture market opportunities by traders.
Another measure to ease piling up of cargo at the port are clearance incentives being proposed by TPA together with Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) to shippers to clear their cargo at the port within 72 hours after the vessel has completed discharge.
Current tariff rates are $20 per day for the next 30 days after expiry of the grace period and thereafter $27 per day. When the new rates are effected, shippers will pay $40 per day as storage rates for the second week that cargo stays at the port and $50 thereafter per day for domestic imports and exports.
Transit cargo will attract a storage fee of $50 per day after an expiry period of 15 days on imports while exports not cleared at the port after 21 days will also be charged a fee of $50 per day.
TPA does not charge any storage fee for domestic imports and exports cleared within one week, while exports in transit only attract storage fees after 21 days.
In a notice addressed to stakeholders, the director general of Sumatra, Israel Sekirasa, says clearance incentives will include a rebate of $15 for 20 foot and $40 foot 40 foot containers removed from the port within 72 hours after the vessel has completed discharge. The current fees are $10 and $15 respectively.
Removal charges will also be imposed on containers overstaying in the port after expiry of the grace period at a rate of $150 per 20 feet container and $225 per 40 feet container.
Removal charges being proposed are meant to cover TPA/Ticts costs of marshalling and re-handling of containers, which includes removal to alternative locations to allow for optimal capacity utilisation in the terminals.
The free storage period, which runs from one week for domestic imports and exports to maximum of three weeks for goods in transit, will remain the same until documentation and cargo clearance procedures are streamlined and the transport system improved to hasten cargo offtake.
Congestion at the Dar es Salaam port has become so chronic that last week, TPA, in collaboration with Ticts, organised a two-day workshop in Dar es Salaam for all major port stakeholders who ended up signing a memorandum of understanding after realising that there was no solution to effective port performance if each stakeholder worked on their own.
The memorandum was signed by 15 stakeholders among them the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, TPA, Sumatra, Tanzania Revenue Authority, Ticts, Tiscan, shipping lines and agents.
By CHRISTINE AFANDI
Special Correspondent
THE EAST AFRICAN
The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is to increase storage charges for all containers at the Dar es Salaam port to discourage port users from turning it into a storage facility.
The Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) is reviewing the proposed increase of between 100 and 150 per cent.
Congestion at the port has hampered its activities, increased service and production costs, caused loss of customers and failure to capture market opportunities by traders.
Another measure to ease piling up of cargo at the port are clearance incentives being proposed by TPA together with Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) to shippers to clear their cargo at the port within 72 hours after the vessel has completed discharge.
Current tariff rates are $20 per day for the next 30 days after expiry of the grace period and thereafter $27 per day. When the new rates are effected, shippers will pay $40 per day as storage rates for the second week that cargo stays at the port and $50 thereafter per day for domestic imports and exports.
Transit cargo will attract a storage fee of $50 per day after an expiry period of 15 days on imports while exports not cleared at the port after 21 days will also be charged a fee of $50 per day.
TPA does not charge any storage fee for domestic imports and exports cleared within one week, while exports in transit only attract storage fees after 21 days.
In a notice addressed to stakeholders, the director general of Sumatra, Israel Sekirasa, says clearance incentives will include a rebate of $15 for 20 foot and $40 foot 40 foot containers removed from the port within 72 hours after the vessel has completed discharge. The current fees are $10 and $15 respectively.
Removal charges will also be imposed on containers overstaying in the port after expiry of the grace period at a rate of $150 per 20 feet container and $225 per 40 feet container.
Removal charges being proposed are meant to cover TPA/Ticts costs of marshalling and re-handling of containers, which includes removal to alternative locations to allow for optimal capacity utilisation in the terminals.
The free storage period, which runs from one week for domestic imports and exports to maximum of three weeks for goods in transit, will remain the same until documentation and cargo clearance procedures are streamlined and the transport system improved to hasten cargo offtake.
Congestion at the Dar es Salaam port has become so chronic that last week, TPA, in collaboration with Ticts, organised a two-day workshop in Dar es Salaam for all major port stakeholders who ended up signing a memorandum of understanding after realising that there was no solution to effective port performance if each stakeholder worked on their own.
The memorandum was signed by 15 stakeholders among them the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, TPA, Sumatra, Tanzania Revenue Authority, Ticts, Tiscan, shipping lines and agents.
