The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) has landed another big deal to transport 18 million litres (18,000 metric tonnes) of petroleum products to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the next one year.
The first consignment of about one million litres (1,000 metric tonnes) has already departed the Port of Dar es Salaam, the authority said adding they were confident that the initial two million litres (2,000 metric tonnes) would be delivered to the DRC within the next one month.
“As we consolidate our turnaround mission, we are delighted to announce the conclusion of an Agreement with African Fossils Limited of Tanzania to move 18 million litres (18,000 metric tonnes) of petroleum products to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the next one year,” TAZARA spokesperson, Conrad K.
Simuchile said in a statement issued yesterday. “This import order is particularly key because it fulfils our desire to balance the flow of traffic in both directions of our line as most of the traffic we are currently moving comprises exports from Zambia and DRC”, he said.
The DRC fuel order is the second import consignment to be secured within a month, following the transportation order for 48 million litres (48,000 metric tonnes) of petroleum destined for Malawi in June.
Malawi government had given an order to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) to move 48 million litres of petroleum products in the next 12 months, starting July 2016.
The spokesperson said the target for the 2016/2017 financial year was to transport 381,000 metric tonnes, a three-fold improvement from 130,000 metric tonnes that were hauled in the 2015/2016 financial year.
“We are grateful to African Fossils Limited for giving us a vote of confidence through this order, which also reaffirms the faith that our customers have generally placed in us to transform the Authority,” he said.
“We believe we are well on course to turn around TAZARA’s performance, which had dropped to the lowest in the Financial Year 2014/2015, when a paltry 87,680 metric tonnes was transported.”
