TICTS in the Dar spotlight

News-in-print 1 Oct 2016 by WCN Editorial

According to reports in Tanzania, President John Magufuli has ordered the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to review Tanzania Internal Container Terminal Services’ (TICTS) concession at Dar es Salaam, acting on the recommendation of Musa Assad, the controller and auditor general.

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In his audit, which was published in April, Assad stated that “the government should review the TICTS lease agreement, with a view to ensuring that public interests are protected therein”. President Magufuli has also asked the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication to become involved in talks between the TPA and TICTS.

All this does not have to be bad news for TICTS. Magufuli could be suggesting that the TPA and the operator merely need to have a different relationship, or that a new deal needs to be agreed. However, TICTS, which is mainly owned by Hutchison Ports, has regularly come under attack from Tanzanian politicians. In the short term at least, it does add to the uncertainty over terminal operation, particularly with regards to the length of the concession.

The original concession was set at 10 years, but in 2005 it was controversially extended to 25 years. Assad argued: “The legal implication of the extension of the lease agreement before the first lease agreement had expired should be considered and the possibility of terminating the lease agreement should be evaluated.”

If the government’s concerns centre on performance, then the delivery by the end of this year of two new 41t SWL/45m outreach (15-wide) quayside gantry cranes from Terex Port Solutions may improve efficiency. TICTS has revealed that the two cranes will cost TZS39B (US$17.4M).

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This complete item is approximately 300 words in length, and appeared in the October 2016 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 7. To access this issue download the PDF here.