Road freight linking Zambia with the Port of Dar es Salaam has been disrupted for the second day in a row because of a trucker strike, coming at a time when Tanzania’s railway connection with its landlocked neighbour is also inoperable.
According to Mike Fitzmaurice from the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations, long-distance drivers are refusing to cross from the Zambian border post of Nakonde to Tunduma in Tanzania because of alleged police brutality.
Persistent complaints of bribery and violent extortion of drivers working the road freight line between Dar and the Copperbelt in Zambia have now resulted in at least two transport unions downing tools.
From what is known, the Transporters’ Association of Tanzania and the Tanzania Truck Owners’ Association are behind the strike.
Talking about the strike's scale, Fitzmaurice said, "it's probably quite bad.
“It’s a busy border and the only road transit for freight between Zambia and Tanzania. It handles about 600 to 800 trucks a day so you can imagine what the build-up is like at the moment.”
The strike couldn’t have come at a worse time for Zambia, heavily reliant on its port linkage with Tanzania.
Earlier this week the Tanzania Zambia Railway service was disrupted when flooding washed away track-supporting culverts for the Tazara line in the vicinity of Kisaki, about 190 kilometres away from Dar.
Fitzmaurice said thanks to immediate involvement by private sector concerns in the repairs, the crucial rail link should be restored in about three weeks – or a month at the most.
Without Tazara, and now cut off from receiving supplies from Tanzania by road because of the strike at Nakonde, Zambia could find itself in a predicament soon.
“About 60-70% of the freight carried by road from Dar into Zambia is containerised cargo. The rest is fuel, about 30-40%.”
Because of the importance of sustained supply from Dar, particularly for the Copperbelt, fuel and other shortages could soon be experienced in crucial sectors of Zambia’s economy, Fitzmaurice said.
