The Mtwara Port was built during the British Colonial times in the city of

Mtwara Mtwara ( Portuguese: ''Montewara'') is the capital city of Mtwara Region in southeastern Tanzania. In the 1940s, it was planned and constructed as the export facility for the disastrous Tanganyika groundnut scheme, but was somewhat neglected whe ...

in southern

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

. The

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

at the Port of Mtwara was deepened during the colonial times by the British in 1948-1954, and a railway line was built connecting the port, as part of the

Tanganyika groundnut scheme The Tanganyika groundnut scheme, or East Africa groundnut scheme, was a failed attempt by the British government to cultivate tracts of its African trust territory Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) with peanuts. Launched in the aftermath of Worl ...

. Due to the failure of the scheme the port immediately lost value and the railway line was removed. The port was functional but underutilized for many years due to poor transport infrastructure, However, in the years of 2010-2011 the increased activity in oil and gas natural resources energy exploration caused a surge on operations. The Mtwara port is also an integral part of the

Mtwara Development Corridor The Mtwara Development Project is a major infrastructure development project involving southern Tanzania, northern Mozambique, eastern Malawi and Eastern Zambia. The goal of this project is to provide road, rail and waterway access from the surroun ...

project and has recently saw major upgrades. The port also has a special economic zone attached to it and In December 2015 Alistair Freeports Limited injected $700,000 to upgrade the

Export processing zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re- exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cu ...

around the port area.

Operations

The port has historically handled very little cargo due to the lack of large industries in the area. The major export out of the port has always been cashew nuts. The Port has a quay wall of 385m and can handle two ships and one ocean ship at once. Previously the port could only dock ships of length up to 175m however with recent renovations in 2015, the port could dock a 209m ship in February 2015. The port handles 400,000 metric tonnes of cargo annually and constitutes to less than 5% of the total countries cargo movement, however, the government plans to upgrade the port drastically to facilitate trade in the southern part of the country.

The Mtwara Development Corridor

The harbour is an integral part of the Mtwara Development Corridor project. The infrastructure around the port is currently being development to help facilitate more cargo to be handled at the port. The port is destined to be an alternative cargo gateway for cargo bound for southern

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

, Eastern

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

and Northern

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. Furthermore, for the success and growth of the major coal and iron mining projects such as the Mchucuma Iron Mine and the

Liganga mine The Liganga mine is a large proposed iron mine located in Southern highland of Tanzania in the Ludewa District of Njombe Region. Road construction has begun in 2014. Ongaba represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Tanzania T ...

they need to be able to handle high capacity bulk loads to facilitate exports through the port.

References

External links

{{Ports in Tanzania Ports and harbours of Tanzania

Operations

The Mtwara Development Corridor

See also

References

External links