Positive policy changes made by the Tanzanian government of President John Magufuli is giving the Port of Dar es Salaam an edge over Durban, according to logistics consultant Luigi Serafino.
Speaking at the monthly Transport Forum held at Wits University last Thursday, the executive from CNR Logistics said Tanzania was ticking the right boxes for long-term benefits. Recalling the plunging copper price in 2016, Serafino said Tanzania had looked at the pummelling Dar’s port was experiencing and decided to shake things up.
Subsequently they dropped the supply chain embargoes with the DRC and “decided to charge VAT on ancillary services, which you don’t have in South Africa”. As a result hinterland traffic between the DRC’s mining belt to Dar increased from 11% to 18% and Tanzania managed to show VAT-generated profit on top of the improved supply chain.
“It just shows how supply chain can be impacted by government policy.” Should Durban fail to regain market share it had lost to the port in Dar, “trucks going south on the DRC line could also start feeling it”, Serafino warned.
He stressed that it was also no longer a saving grace for Durban to bargain on congestion and corruption in Dar. Tanzania is getting its act together and the price difference that countries are experiencing is beginning to make a difference.
“They are thinking that it’s worth waiting a little longer to get goods through the Tanzanian port.”
Serafino added that Mozambique’s primary container port, Beira, was also beginning to compete with Durban. And Richards Bay is beginning to feel the burgeoning presence of a competing mining port like Maputo.
It points to growing perceptions that “the little port that handles smaller parcels gives you a better service than bigger ports such as Richards Bay and Durban”, Serafino said.
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The little port that handles smaller parcels gives you a better service than bigger ports such as Richards Bay and Durban. – Luigi Serafino
