Tanzania: the port of Dar es Salaam sharply cuts turnaround times and handles greater volume

According to data from the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and terminal operator DP World reported in early October 2026, the average time to unload a container ship at the port of Dar es Salaam has fallen from more than 300 hours to under 28 hours since April 2024, with a vessel's full turnaround now taking around three days.

The volume of cargo handled by the port has followed the same trajectory: 23.7 million tonnes in the 2023/24 financial year, 27.7 million in 2024/25, then 33.7 million in 2025/26. Dar es Salaam is thereby consolidating its role as a gateway for transit freight to the DRC (around 6 million tonnes, nearly half of regional transit in 2024/25), Zambia, Rwanda, Malawi and Burundi.

This improvement is part of an ongoing effort to modernise the container terminal, under way since 2022 with the arrival of DP World as operator, and continued through port investment and regional trade facilitation agreements signed in 2026.

This affects all Tanzanian importers, or those in landlocked countries transiting through Tanzania, who bring goods from China by sea via Dar es Salaam rather than via the Kenyan port of Mombasa.