Tanga Port is the longest serving port in East Africa. It is a lighter port with two shallow water berths. Visiting ships are moored in the ocean in stream buoys as a requirement for maritime safety. A 354 km highway links it to its sister port of Dar es Salaam in the south, and Tanga Port is located on the northern coast of Tanzania. near the Kenyan border. The port boundary extends from latitude 05° 00 5.8 long 039° 09.5’E to longitude 39° 15’E, then 180° to longitude parallel to Lat 05’S, and thence 270° to the mainland.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni agreed to build the Tanzania-Uganda oil pipeline at the 17th East African Heads of State Summit in Arusha on March 6, 2016. The pipeline will extend 1,400 km from the Lake Albert Basin to Port Tanga. . It was tentatively agreed to run the pipeline from Uganda to Kenya to the Lamu port and the transport corridor between Lamu, South Sudan and Ethiopia. The pipeline will cost more than $4 billion and create 1,500 direct jobs across the region. The three companies with a stake in the project are Total SA, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Tullow Oil, who preferred the Tanzanian route due to safety concerns in the Kenyan Northern Corridor. Construction will start in August 2016 and construction will take two years.
Port properties
The characteristics of the port are determined by the following aspects:
Location
measuring
logistical integration
Marine Services Specialization
Inland access port infrastructure
In general, each port is unique in terms of its characteristics which in turn can have significant impacts on the port’s performance and efficiency. Here are the characteristics of Tanga port:
Tanga Port is located in the northern coastal region of Tanzania, close to the border with the Republic of Kenya. It is located at 5.050633°S / 135.12609°E. It is strategically located to serve the northern regions of Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Manyara, the lake district, neighboring countries of Rwanda, Burundi and the northern part of Uganda. It is a small port in terms of land and volume of goods handled annually. It is a lighter harbor with a shallow water depth at the main quay. Ships are moored in Tanga Bay Inland for mooring and cargo is transported to and from the mother ship by use of cargo barges and lighters supported by tugboats that pull the barges/lighters to and from the ship. It has a wide and deep inlet channel that can accommodate ships of any size or draft/submersible. It has no tidal restrictions for ships entering or leaving port. Navigation of the ship is limited to day time only. Night navigation cannot be performed. It has a natural and well protected bay for freight services. The unloading and loading of cargo on flow is entirely dependent on the use of ship cranes.