The Bagamoyo Port project in Tanzania finally appears to have traction.
After more than 10 years of negotiating uncertainty, Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has confirmed that Africa Global Logistics (AGL), a subsidiary of the ocean carrier MSC, has now been approved as the construction partner for the port.
This MoU represents a key milestone in the re-launching of the port project, which has suffered massive delays since it was first unveiled in 2013. Originally, the port was regarded as a flagship project for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but the administration of the late President John Magufuli cancelled the project in 2019, accusing the Chinese authorities of “exploitative terms” because the deal for the port’s construction included demands for massive tax exemptions. However, when President Samia Suluhu Hassan took power in Tanzania in 2021, she restarted negotiations for the project, even describing it as a “national priority.”
The appointment of AGL marks a clear political shift from a China to a European-led partner and the deal will help the MSC group further increase its presence in African port operations and logistics activities.
The US$10bn Bagamoyo port project is designed to have 28 berths and a special economic zone, which could potentially support up to 760 industrial facilities. Eventually, up to 20 million TEU of container capacity could also be made available, substantially more than the current 800,000 TEU of annual capacity at Dar es Salaam.
Bagamoyo port is located just 40 miles north of Dar es Salaam port and is regarded as the long-term plan to address current operational and capacity limits at the existing gateway port.
