A SHIP operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Co. is expected to load 600 containers and depart the next day, making way for other ships to load cashews, the port management here affirms.

Ferdinand Nyathi, the port manager, made this observation before the regional commissioner, Col.Patrick Sawala who visited the port at the end of the week to inspect the port’s capacity to handle cashew exports.

 The port is equipped with robust systems to ensure reliable operations, he said, asserting that 11 ships had already been serviced with 6,222 containers received, 1,000 of which are already loaded with cashews.

The RC issued an appeal to cashew crop buyers to remove the crop stored in warehouses and transport the cargo to the port for export from there, where the port manager saif stuffing operations are being pursued inside and outside the port.

The port has a handling capacity of 2m metric tons per year, accommodating large vessels of up to 240 meters long, “with sufficient draft depth for any large ship,” he stated.

Cashew exports accounts for just a part of the total cargo handlei as last year the port managed 1.7m tonnes of cargo, where cashews represented 253,000 tonnes, he said.

The president visited the port to inspect its refurbishment and instructed that all cashew harvests from the southern regions be transported through Mtwara port, he recalled.

The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) was implemented this directive, he said, while Francis Alfred,  director for the Cashew Board of Tanzania (CBT), said that the 2024/2025 season started with success and is now in its seventh week.

 "So far, cashew production and sales have reached 261,796,808 tonnes, valued at 999bn/-," he stated, noting that the farmers have so far earned 879.699bn/-.

Last year the sales volume stood at 310,000 tonnes and the board expects to surpass that this season, he said, underlining that export operations at the port were being smoothly conducted.

 "I visited to check if the 238,000 tonnes could be shipped, and I found there are enough ships available for transporting the tonnage," he said, highlighting that so far, 157.8bn/- has been invested in constructing a new 300-metre-long berth at the port. 

This berth, with a water depth of 13 metres, is capable of accommodating ships up to 230 metres long and handling bulk carriers with a deadweight capacity of up to 65,000 tonnes. 

The new infrastructure includes a 75,807-square-metre yard that can store up to 8,600 twenty-foot containers on a rotating basis annually, he said, noting that the the port’s cargo handling capacity has grown significantly in recent years.

During fiscal 2022/2023 the port handled 1.629m metric tons of cargo, a massive increase compared to 106,170 tonnes recorded for fiscal 2018/2019, he said, highlighting that fiscal 2023/24 saw the port handle 1.7m tonnes and the target for this year is within the 1.7m tonnes ranmge,with 10,000 tonnes more to the mark.

 “We are committed to ensuring that Mtwara Port becomes a key gateway for cashew exports and other cargo from the southern regions and beyond,’ he said.

The goal is to handle all exports efficiently thus succeed to attract more importo nd export business to the port, he added.