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Zambia among key drivers as Dar es Salaam port transit cargo rises 17 per cent
Dar es Salaam Port’s transit cargo rose 17 per cent to 14.61 million tonnes in the 2025/26 financial year, with Zambia accounting for 3.41 million tonnes as trade through the Tanzanian port to key regional markets increased.
Picture: Times of Zambia
Transit cargo through Dar es Salaam Port rose 17 percent to 14.61 million tonnes in the 2025/26 financial year, the official port data report has indicated.
The increase was driven largely by stronger flows to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Rwanda.
Zambia remained one of the port’s largest markets at 3.41 million tonnes, while Rwanda-bound volumes rose 24 percent to 2.18 million tonnes.
DRC-bound cargo increased 30 per cent to 7.77 million tonnes, giving the country more than half of Dar es Salaam’s transit traffic.
The increase comes as DP World invests in the port, while government upgrades to Tanzania’s rail and road network expand options for moving goods to inland markets.
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Dar es Salaam is competing for cargo based on cost, reliability and transit time, especially in mining and manufacturing, where delays can disrupt inventories and production.
Total cargo handled reached 33.71 million tonnes in 2025/26, up 21.5 per cent from a year earlier, according to official port data reported this month.
DP World began operating Dar es Salaam Port’s Terminal 1 in April 2024 under a 30-year concession and has committed more than USD500 million to the facility.
Monthly container throughput reached 44,001 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in May 2026, 45,856 TEUs in June, 46,582 TEUs in July and 48,793 TEUs in August, compared with 13,779 TEUs in May 2024.
DP World says comparable cargo discharge times have fallen from more than 300 hours to under 28 hours. The operator plans to double annual container capacity from about 300,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) to 600,000 TEUs by 2028.
Source: Times of Zambia — Read more
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