Tanga and Other Northern Sea Ports

The Port of Tanga was built in 1914 initially to serve the commercial and agricultural needs of northern Tanzania, it is the longest-serving port in East Africa. A 354-km highway links it to its sister port Dar es Salaam in the South. Tanga port is situated on the northern coast of Tanzania.

Port Characteristics

Generally, each port is unique in terms of its characteristics which in turn can have major influences on port performance and efficiency. The following are the characteristics of Tanga port.

  • It is strategically located to serve the northern Regions of Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Manyara, the lake zone, and neighboring countries of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Southern part of Uganda.
  • It has a wide and deep entrance channel that can accommodate a vessel of any size and draft/draught.
  • It has no tide restrictions for vessels entering or leaving the port
  • It has a natural and well-sheltered bay for shipping services

Port Facilities

  • The port of Tanga has a modern quay wall with total length of 450 meters covering berth one and two. Currently there are two offshore pipelines with 12 inches are used for handling Liquid bulk (oil products). Also, at the Totten Island there is Conventional Buoy Mooring (CBM) for handling of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by means of flexible hoses connected to submarine pipelines
  • The conventional yard with paved area of 29,000m2
  • Three sheds; with 13,800m2 stacking area
  • One dock yard area for marine equipment maintenance
  • Ro-Ro Ramp for passenger vessel services

Equipment

Tanga Port is equipped with Habours Mobile cranes with lifting capacity of 63 tons each, Tugboats, Cargo barges – each with capacity of 3,500 tons, Cargo Lighter with capacity of 600 tons, Pantoons for cargo transfer, Empty Container Handler – 12 tons capacity, Reach stackers for handling of full container with a capacity of 40 tons, Terminal tractor for longitudinal transfer of cargo, Forklifts with bale clamp attachment for handling of sisal fibres, Standard Forklifts:- 4Nos. Forklifts each with a capacity of 3,5, 16 and 25 tons, Terminal Tractors and Trailers, Fire Tender trucks equipped with firefighting equipment, Mooring Boat, Weighbridge for weighing cargo in the port both imports and export, Hoppers and Grabs for handling of bulk cargo.

Storage Facilities

Tanga Port has the following storage facilities three cargos sheds for covered storage of weather sensitive cargo.

  • Paved area (container yard) for storage of Container and other cargo which does not require covered storage has an area measuring 29,000 square meters.
  • Covered storage (sheds) covers an area measuring 13,800 square meters

Port Capacity

The current upgraded capacity is 1,201,000 tons per annum.

Projects being implemented at Tanga

Strengthening, Deeping and Modernization of the existing berth No. 1 & 2

Contact Information

The Port Master,
Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA),
Bandari House
P. O. Box 443,
Tanga, Tanzania

Tel: +255 (27) 2643078
Fax: +255 (27) 2642360
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