TAHA fresh logistic rolls out mega investment plans

TANZANIA’S sole farmers owned logistic company plans a major foray into fresh produce terminal venture, as it seeks to tap into a multi-billion-dollar fresh food supply chain business.

TAHA Fresh Handling Ltd is currently fine-tuning its business plan to spearhead establishment of a number of state-of-the-art fresh produce terminals in the key inland, airport and ports in Tanzania to cater for export of perishables like horticulture, meat, live and frozen fish from within and the six land linked countries.

“These ultra-modern facilities will be serving as the strategic consolidation centres for perishable cargo from Tanzania and neighbouring countries. Apart from commercial interest, our foray into fresh produce terminal business is to position the country as a real regional gateway to Africa and global markets,” said TAHA Fresh board Chairperson, Dr Jacqueline Mkindi.

Dr Mkindi, who is an Agri-business specialist, said that as demand for perishable commodities continues to skyrocket around the world, the customised, competitive and efficient logistics services become more imperative to deliver perishable goods to retailers’ shelves quickly, and in the best possible condition.

Supply chain distances and times have increased a great deal, more in some corners of the world than others, and so have the challenges involved in getting fresh produce from source to destination before spoilage renders it unsalable.

“From the moment the fish is landed, the beast slaughtered, the fruit or vegetable is harvested, or the flowers sorted and bundled into the cold room, time and distance become the enemies of freshness” she explained, adding that: “In fact, fresh produce typically spends up to 50 per cent of its shelf life in transit between supplier and retailer, so the clock is ticking from the moment it begins its journey to retailers’ shelves”.

Dr Mkindi said that the whole idea of venturing into fresh produce terminal, among other interests, is to complement the President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan’s painstaking efforts to position Tanzania ahead of time in terms of effective logistic services.

With an investment in a cargo freighter and large passenger aircrafts as well as improvement of ports, the Government is investing billions of shillings in putting together a robust infrastructure for efficient logistics services and therefore it is up to the private sector to complement these efforts with the hardware and soft skills required to make these projects a success.

In his keynote address at the just ended second edition of International Africa Avocado Congress in Nairobi, Kenya, TAHA Fresh Handling Ltd General Manager, Mr Amani Temu said that as a farmers owned company, its philosophy is to work long term initiatives as it seeks to spur inclusive growth of all businesses regardless of their size.

“As we embark on taking a road less travelled, we are open to work with donors, partners and investors who share similar conviction in a fresh produce terminal business,” Mr Temu told the African premier Avocado investment forum.

Deficit of fresh produce terminals to prolong the freshness of produce and deliver to consumers in the best possible condition, is denying Tanzania opportunity to exploit its geographical comparative advantage as the East African community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade gateway and logistical hub.

“As a matter of fact, TAHA Fresh Handling Ltd, is capitalising on Tanzania’s comparative advantage derived from its strategic location for transport and logistics as it provides vital access to world markets for the country’s hinterland and six landlinked countries of Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Uganda, Zambia and Malawi,” Mr Temu said.

TAHA Fresh Handling Ltd is a several local and regional awards winner, with its latest being the prestigious East Africa Maritime Awards (EAMA) as the best logistic firm, for facilitating multimillion-dollar horticultural exports.

The company emerged winner in a cutthroat competition brought by the companies from across the breadth of the maritime sector, comprising the shipping, ports, services, engineering, and leisure marine industries with operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mr Amani said his logistic firm has been playing a critical role in absorbing costly and time-consuming cross-border non-tariff barriers to export horticulture produce overseas.

TAHA Fresh Ltd offers a wide range of horticultural products export and import services including its flagship airfreight, clearing, and forwarding, refrigerated trucking, perishable handling, sea freight from both Dar es Salaam and Mombasa ports.

Indeed, TAHA Fresh Ltd is slowly, but surely becoming a leading horticulture logistics specialist, which understands and designs solutions for the country’s nearly $800million worth nascent industry.

As it stands now, TAHA Fresh Ltd is an official member of the World Cargo Alliance (WCA) network. The WCA is the world’s most powerful grouping of independent freight forwarders with more than 6,473 members in 789 cities and ports worldwide.