Tanzania has officially broken ground on a $274 million petroleum storage expansion at the Port of Dar es Salaam that promises to cut tanker waiting times by 68% and reduce downstream fuel costs across East and Central Africa — a development with sweeping implications for landlocked neighbours including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan attended the groundbreaking ceremony on March 3, 2026. The project, awarded to a joint venture between China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group and WUHUAN Engineering, broke ground in August 2024 and has already reached 41% completion. Delivery is scheduled for February 2027.
The scheme will add 15 new petroleum storage tanks with a combined capacity of 378,000 cubic meters — a 35.9% increase on existing levels — split across diesel, petrol, and Jet A-1 aviation fuel. In a structural first for Tanzania, the Tanzania Ports Authority will own and operate its petroleum storage infrastructure directly, consolidating what had previously been a fragmented private client system.
The efficiency gains are substantial. Incoming tankers currently spend around 22 days at anchor waiting for a berth, and a further seven days discharging cargo, with shipowners billing up to $25,000 per day in demurrage throughout. The new facility is projected to reduce anchorage waiting time to seven days and compress the discharge window to a single day.
The Dar es Salaam corridor is a critical supply artery for its landlocked neighbours, and bottlenecks at the port have historically triggered supply shortages and price spikes across the wider region. The government has also linked the expansion to plans for a Standard Gauge Railway integration, targeting a shift of 70–80% of cargo to rail to further reduce inland distribution costs. Port customs revenue has grown from Sh7.3 trillion in 2020 to Sh12.3 trillion in the 2024–2025 fiscal year, reflecting the port’s rising economic significance.
Source: energycapitalpower.com