Theft At Dar Port Threatens Burundi Traders

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Victor Karega

4 May 2011

Burundian car importers are threatening to boycott using the Port of Dar es Salaam due to what they term as poor security at the country’s major port.Mr Siliba Desire and Laurent Joseph told BusinessWeek in Dar es Salaam recently that poor security at Port costs them thousands of dollars each passing day, hence the need for them to look for other safer avenues.They said they usually get home to realise that goods like laptops and radio sets which are packed in imported vehicles, have gone missing.

They believe that their products are lost during discharging of the vehicles at the port.

“This situation happened to us when we were about to discharge our five cars and we found some items like laptops loaded in the cars and their keys missing….We reported that matter to the port guards who told us to pay Sh500,000 in order to get back our properties. We did not agree and we decided to report the issue to the police officials at the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam who used police tactics to force them to give back our belongings.

They said the port guards gave back the items only after police officials threatened to take stern measures against them.Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) communications manager, Mr Franklyn Mziray however played down the claims, saying security at the port is always tight and that it is difficult for items, loaded in the vehicle, to go missing since all deliveries arrive with seals.

“We are gathering more information on the alleged thefts and I urge importers to cooperate with us by reporting their complaints direct to the security office or port offices so they can be taken care of,” he said.

Mr Mziray noted that all car importers should make sure they inspect their vehicles thoroughly and fill a form called Vehicle Discharge and Transfer Tally (VDITT) before a vessel master to determine the safety of the car.

He also urged importers to hire honest transporters in order to avoid such cases which end up tarnishing the image of the port.

The other thing worth noting, he said, was for importers to make sure that their abroad agents are sending proper documentation which show items loaded in their cars.He explained that if the agents declared on the document that there were items loaded in the vehicle during tranship, the port would pay the cost of the freight, but if they will not declare, it will be at the car owner’s risk.

Mr Mziray explained that car doors are not supposed to be locked as keys of a particular country are kept in one bundle. Locking the doors complicates key sorting procedures. However, he warned car importer to stop loading other undeclared items into their vehicles.

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