TRANSPORT
Poor Infrastructure Inhibiting Trade On Lake Tanganyika The stakeholders were also asked to advocate and lobby for increased promotion of cross border and exports business within the lake states to enable vessels have return cargo to carry which in essence would bring down the cost of operation and freight, particularly for Mpulungu (Zambia), located far south of the lake.
By a Correspondent
P
oor port infrastructure has been identified as among the key challenges inhibiting the facilitation of shipping and trade across Lake Tanganyika.
A stakeholders forum of the Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS) for the Facilitation of Shipping and Trade across Lake Tanganyika, noted that the existing infrastructure at the lake ports remains poor and not being reviewed to match the pace of increasing trade and cargo volume within the lake. The forum held in Dar es Salaam in April, 2021, identified the most affected ports as Moba, Kalemie, Muliro and Kalundu; lacking landing, loading and unloading equipment, as well as warehousing facilities. The infrastructure challenges have led to inefficient utilisation of vessels plying the lake, thus increasing the turnaround time and creating a perceived scarcity of vessels. At Kigoma Port, lack of sufficient storage facilities, in addition to the low productivity at the port, had led to the use of wagons as storage facilities which interfere with the wagon turnaround time. The low level of productivity (service delivery) also bedeviling Kalemie Port, is occasioned by inadequate capacity and poor/old infrastructure, tools and equipment, manual systems and inadequate deployment of man power, thus causing cargo movement delays, congestions, and snowball effect in other ports waiting for the vessels.
AFRICAN SHIPPING REVIEW Oct/Dec 2021
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