The deal will put APSEZ firmly on course to reach its goal of becoming the world’s largest port operator by 2030.
Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), the state-owned entity that oversees ports in the East African nation, is expected to announce the winner, in the next few days, of a dual tender to privatise Dar es Salaam Port, which handles some 95 percent of that country’s international trade.
APSEZ, according to a source briefed on the matter, is said to have teamed up with Abu Dhabi Ports Group to place a joint bid for some break bulk/dry bulk and container berths at Dar es Salaam Port – the main gateway to Tanzania’s hinterland and the Great Lakes region.
The port also plays a major role in supporting the economies of the neighbouring landlocked countries of Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Besides, the port is strategically located to serve as a freight link to and from East and Central Africa countries as well as to Middle and Far East, Europe, Australia, and America.
Since January this year, APSEZ was hired by Tanzania Ports Authority to run four container handling berths (8 to 11) at Dar es Salaam Port as a service provider, after its five-year contract with Tanzania International Container Terminal Services Ltd (TICTS), a unit of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd, ended.
Dar es Salaam Port has a rated capacity of 14.1 million tonnes (mt) dry cargo and 6 million tonnes of bulk liquid cargo. The port has a total quay (berth) length of about 2,600 metres with eleven deep-water berths.
The port has five general cargo berths (0-5) for handling break bulk, dry bulk and one roll-on, roll-off (RORO) berth to handle vehicles and six container handling facilities with a combined capacity of 1 million TEUs.
The port also runs a grain terminal (silos with storage capacity of 30,000 tons), Inland Container Depot (ICD) with capacity of 24,300 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and a Container Freight Station with a capacity to hold 6,000 vehicles.
The port has two oil terminals – the single point mooring (SPM) facility and the Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ) for handling crude oil and refined petroleum products.
Tanzania Ports Authority is implementing the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP) with a $345 million loan from the World Bank to improve the port’s efficiency by helping larger ships to dock and raise the cargo handling capacity to 28 million tons by 2025.
The DMGP aims to strengthen and deepen the 11 cargo berths and the RORO terminal to 14.5 metres, deepen and widen the entrance channel and turning basin in the port to the end of berth 11 to 15.5 metres, and construct a new multipurpose berth at Gerezani Creek.
As a precursor to the acquisition of berths at Dar es Salaam Port, APSEZ and Abu Dhabi Ports Group signed a memorandum of Understanding in August last year for pursuing strategic joint investments in end-to-end logistics infrastructure and solutions, including rail, maritime services, port operations, digital services, industrial zone, and the establishment of maritime academies in Tanzania.
The agreement set in motion a series of potential country-level investments to grow, improve, and promote an end-to-end maritime and logistics ecosystem which will make Tanzania a hub for the African region, the two companies said after signing the MoU to pursue the collaboration.
“This MoU with Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd is significant in its impact on both Tanzania’s ability to transform itself into an African trading hub, as well as our ability to further develop our global capabilities and connections that will bring goods to market faster and more efficiently,” Capt Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Managing Director and Group CEO, AD Ports Group, said after signing the MoU.
“Our strategic investment in Tanzania in infrastructure and solutions will enable international companies to enter African markets. In line with the direction of the UAE’s leadership, we are positioning Abu Dhabi as a global leader in logistics and industry,” he added.
APSEZ CEO Karan Adani said that partnering with the “AD Ports Group in the development of key quality infrastructure in Tanzania especially in the ports and maritime sector will improve and bring about positive change in the communities”.
“We continue to support local employment, as well as general economic growth in Tanzania and East African countries that will benefit from our investments through the collaboration with AD Ports Group,” Karan Adani said.
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange listed A D Ports Group, a part of Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company, is one of the region’s largest holding companies based in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
On 24 January, US-based Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of accounting fraud, stock manipulation and other corporate governance lapses.
The Adani Group has denied these allegations.
In January this year, a consortium of APSEZ (70 percent stake) and local firm Gadot Group, took control of Haifa Port Company at Israel’s largest commercial port, in a $1.13 billion deal under that country’s privatisation programme.
In 2021, APSEZ signed a concession agreement with Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to build a container terminal in Colombo Port, a regional transhipment hub.
APSEZ holds 51 percent stake in the under-construction West Container Terminal at Colombo Port that will be designed to handle 3.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year in multiple phases over a 35-year contract.
APSEZ and its two local partners – John Keells Holdings PLC and Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) will invest some $650 million to build the terminal. The first phase of the terminal, with a capacity to handle 1 million TEUs, is expected to start operations in December 2024.
