- Increases from 60,000 tonnes to 133,000 tonnes
MTWARA: THE Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has announced that by the end of November this year, the Port of Mtwara had handled 133,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts for international markets since cashew trading season that kicked off October 11 this year.
TPA stated that this represents an increase of 72,921 tonnes compared to the 60,079 tonnes handled during the same period last year, marking a 121 per cent growth.
According to the TPA report, 17 ships have docked and been serviced at the port, with 14 of them loading containerised cargo and three carrying cashews packed in sacks.
The report further noted that 3,366 containers have already been loaded and shipped from the Port of Mtwara out of the 7,621 containers available at the port for the transportation of this key cash crop.
The Sixth Phase Government has invested over 157.8bn/- in upgrading the Port of Mtwara.
Before these investments, all cashew nuts from the southern regions were transported by truck to Dar es Salaam for export to international markets.
Thanks to the improvements made by TPA at the port, this year’s cashew season has seen significant changes, including an increase in the number of companies using this southern corridor port.
In the 2023/2024 season, only three companies—PIL, MSC and CMA CGM—were involved in cashew exportation through the port.
This 2024/2025 season, the number of shipping companies have increased to seven, including CMA CGM, MSC, PIL, ESL, ECSL and COSCO.
The Director General of the Cashew Board of Tanzania, Francis Alfred, said that cashew production has increased this year, with 238,000 tonnes sold so far.
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Alfred added that there have been no challenges related to the availability of ships or containers for cashew exports this season, unlike in previous seasons.
One of the cashew traders using the port for cargo transportation, Omega Makanjiro, said the investment has enabled three ships to be handled simultaneously at both the new and old berths.
Makanjiro mentioned that many shipping companies are now bringing their vessels to the Port of Mtwara, facilitating easier business operations.
Herman Colman from ETG Company remarked that this season has been particularly favourable for their operations.
Colman said that since the start of the season, they have exported 40,000 tonnes compared to the 26,000 tonnes exported last season.
