THE Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is planning to construct a ‘Dirty’ Port at Kisiwa Mgao area in the outskirts of Mtwara Region, which will serve as a special terminal to transport coal.
Tanzania is anticipating a rise in coal exports following a huge demand for the commodity in the world market.
The volume of cargo handled by Mtwara Port has more than doubled in the past financial year, thanks to the coal mining, which significantly boasted exports through the port.
Acting Mtwara Port Manager James Ng’wandu said while the export of cement from Dangote factory through the port continues to grow; there is equally significant increase of coal shipment through the southern terminal since October 2021.
He said the port, whose capacity is one million tonnes of cargo annually, handled a total of 779,233 tonnes of cargo in the first half of this financial year, meaning by end of June this year, they will break even by handling more than the capacity.
Mr Ng’wandu further said that out of the 779,233 tonnes of cargo, consignment of coal totalled 614,380 tonnes. The coal was exported to various parts of the world including the Netherlands, Singapore, Poland, Germany, Senegal, Ghana, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and India.
The port started receiving coal for export on October 31, 2021 and the actual tonnes loaded in total so far are 1,094,908 tonnes. The port receives at least five vessels per month loading coal.
He said, since the port started transporting coal in 2021, it has fetched a total of 19.22bn/-.
“We started slowly with one vessel that had the capacity of carrying 50,000 tonnes of coal per month but the figure is now surging and this January, we were able to transport 150,000 tonnes of coal,” he said.
The volume increased to 592,365 tonnes in the year to June 30, 2022 compared to 177,388 tonnes handled in 2020/2021.
According to the management, the port’s target was serving 377,700 tonnes per year.
Indeed, already, coal is dominating the exports for the current financial year, with July and August accommodating 169,571 tonnes out of 215,715 tonnes handled at the Mtwara Port.
This, according to Mr Ng’wandu, has pushed TPA to come up with long term plans to construct ‘Dirty’ Port at Kisiwa Mgao area, near Dangote Factory, which will be dedicated for shipping coal.
“The objective is to protect the environment, based on the nature of coal, which contains a lot of dust,” he said.
Mr Ng’wandu said this February, a tender will be floated for bidders to submit their bids and when the procedure is completed, construction will begin at an area of 25 hectares of land. The construction project will last for two or three years.
“This port (Kisiwa Mgao) will be strategic because it will also serve to transport cement, graphite from Ruangwa District, Lindi Region,” he said.
It will also be readily available for use when the much-touted Liganga and Mchuchuma project kicks off, according to Mr Ng’wandu.
“Required infrastructure will already be in place to support transportation of products from Liganga and Mchuchuma,” he said, while calling on the government to fast-track construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Mtwara to Mbamba Bay and other places of southern regions for the port to be fully utilised.
At the moment, TPA is making enough efforts to protect the environment, since transporting coal carries with it a volume of dust which is a threat to the environment and causes pollution to people living near the Mtwara Port.
“We have come up with short- and long-term plans to deal with the challenge. In short term plans, we have erected special nets to trap dust at the compound where the coal is stored before being loaded into the ships,” he said.
The port is also using cannon dust to clean out dust from the coal as well as using water browsers at the trails and stockpiling.
Another short-term measure the port is taking is to install a conveyor belt system, to transport the coal from where it is stored to the vessels, whereby according to Acting Port Engineer, Stephan Kashushura, the port has set aside 9bn/- this financial year to start and complete the project.
According to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, global coal demand increased only marginally in 2022. However, this increased demand was enough to push it to an all-time high amid the energy crisis. With the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine the demand is anticipated to go much higher this year.
