HONG KONG's Hutchison Ports' Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) announced that it has achieved its highest ever monthly throughput record of more than 61,236 TEU in March.

TICTS said in a statement that the record was on the back of a peak season of agricultural exports and strong local and transit demand. It also comes a month after TICTS handled the largest cargo exchange ever in Tanzania on Hapag Lloyd's 4,600-TEU Mombasa Express with more than 6,600 TEU.

As ports globally work to relieve Covid-related congestion, the workforce at TICTS rose to the challenge, shattering the previous monthly record of 57,616 TEU which was set in September 2020. This new record is testament to the ongoing investment into the port, as TICTS and its parent company Hutchison Ports continue to invest in equipment, system enhancements and employee training.

TICTS currently has ongoing investment programme that will see an investment of TZS12.5 billion (US$5.4 million) in new equipment including rubber-tyred gantry cranes and reach stackers in this quarter alone. When Hutchison Ports entered the market, the TICTS facility had a designed handling capacity of around 21,000 TEU per month. The current performance is now almost triple this amount.

Andy Tsoi, Hutchison Ports managing director, Middle East and Africa commented: "While this record throughput is excellent news for the country, our team needed to step up to meet this unprecedented demand. Inevitably there were delays, but our shareholders continue to mobilise resources to further optimise operations at the port."

Said acting TICTS chief executive Matt Clifft: "We managed to overcome a number of obstacles, and our team is already energised to break this newly established record."