Poor transport infrastructure is one of key factors that hinder smooth business between Tanzania and Uganda. This situation has led to the decline of Uganda's cargo volume transported through Dar port and has in some cases caused delay in delivery of cargo traveling by either road or railway. For instance, in the year 2005 about 83, 592 million tonnes of cargo was transported to Uganda through Dar port while in the year 2006 only 46,855 million tonnes were transported.



Speaking to Business Week during the ongoing International Trade fair at the Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere Grounds in Dar es Salaam last week, Mr. Damas Ndawi, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) officer for planning and statistics said that for a long time now, Uganda has been using the port and of late the small traffic to Kampala has been diverted to the more competitive Port of Mombasa in Kenya. "There have been massive construction of roads, which link regions, and borders to neighbouring countries but still there is a challenge to the government," Ndawi said.



Dar es Salaam port is the largest seaport with a rated capacity of 4.1 million dead weight tonnes (DWT) of dry cargo (out of which DWT or 250,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) are containerised cargo and 6.0 million (DWT) of bulk liquid cargo p.a. Dar es Salaam port has 11 berths with total quay length of 2,600 metres. Out of the 11 berths, 8 berths with quay length of 1,478 metres are general cargo berths. These are equipped with quay cranes, front loaders and other cargo handling equipment. Apart from serving the mother country, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam port serves a huge hinterland of about 4.5 million square kilometres consisting of Malawi, Zambia, DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda with a total population of over 160 million people. The port of Dar es Salaam with 11 deep-water berths is strategically placed to serve as a convenient freight linkage not only to and from East and Central African countries but also to Middle and Far East, Europe, Australia and America.