Online Reporter
Zimpapers Reporter
ZIMBABWE has secured 10 hectares of land at Kwala in Tanzania’s Coastal Region to build its own dry port terminal, a deal that gives the landlocked country a direct foothold on one of East Africa’s busiest logistics corridors and a fresh route for cargo that currently squeezes through the congested Beira Corridor.
The allocation was disclosed this week after officials from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development met their counterparts from Tanzania’s Ministry of Transport in Harare to review progress on dry port cooperation between the two countries.
Representing Permanent Secretary Engineer Joy Makumbe, the Ministry’s Head of Legal Services, Advocate Kingston Magaya, said the two governments are close to finalising the legal groundwork for the project.
“The MoU will provide a framework for cooperation and pave the way for the signing of definitive agreements to enable the implementation and operationalisation of the dry port project,” he said.
For a landlocked country, access to port infrastructure is never guaranteed – it depends on the goodwill and capacity of neighbouring states.
Zimbabwe’s cargo already relies heavily on Mozambique’s Beira Corridor, where chronic truck congestion at Forbes Border Post has cost transporters, clearing agents, importers and exporters dearly.
A dedicated Zimbabwean facility inside Tanzania effectively diversifies that risk, plugging Zimbabwean trade directly into the Central Corridor, the rail and road network that Tanzania is positioning as an alternative gateway to the sea for landlocked states across the region.
It also means Zimbabwean cargo bound for or arriving from Asian and Middle Eastern markets could increasingly move through Dar es Salaam rather than depend solely on Beira or South African ports, giving importers and exporters another option when one corridor is under strain.
The offer of land at Kwala follows Tanzania’s own launch of the Kwala dry port in the Pwani region in 2025, a project built to relieve chronic congestion at the Dar es Salaam seaport.
That launch followed operational agreements between seven entities: the Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation (TASAC), Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC), Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the Tanzania Shipping Agents Association (TASAA), Tanzania East Africa Gateway Terminal Ltd. (TEAGL), and UAE-based logistics giant DP World.
Tanzania expects the Kwala facility to absorb up to 30 per cent of the cargo volume currently overwhelming Dar es Salaam port, cutting transit bottlenecks and improving turnaround times.
Linked to the upgraded central railway line run by TRC, it is designed to speed the inland transfer of containers not just to Tanzanian markets, but to landlocked neighbours – Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo – via the Central Corridor.
Zimbabwe’s allocation places it alongside those countries as a beneficiary of the same infrastructure push.
Tanzania’s Ministry of Transport describes Kwala as a cornerstone of a broader strategy to expand port capacity, modernise rail on both standard and metre-gauge tracks, and build multimodal logistics platforms to support regional trade and industrialisation.
DP World’s participation, officials say, reflects international confidence in Tanzania’s ambition to become a logistics gateway for East and Central Africa.
The Tanzania deal comes as Zimbabwe pushes ahead with its own multi-million-dollar dry port at Mutare, developed alongside a parallel project by Mozambique at Dondo – both aimed at breaking the gridlock at Forbes Border Post, Zimbabwe’s busiest commercial gateway, where trucks have been stranded for days, sometimes weeks.
Officials attribute the congestion to incomplete transporter documentation, cumbersome clearance procedures and limited processing capacity, which have pushed truck queues several kilometres beyond the border.
Construction of the Mutare Dry Port, under the stewardship of the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF), is already under way, with heavy machinery and crews working to accelerate completion.
Once operational, it will handle overflow cargo, speed up customs processing and ease pressure at Forbes. Across the border, Mozambique has approved a US$110 million Dondo Dry Port in Sofala Province, to operate as an extension of the Port of Beira and reduce vessel waiting times.
The two facilities form part of a wider modernisation drive along the Beira Corridor, one of Southern Africa’s most important trade routes, alongside upgrades at Forbes Border Post itself – new entry and exit points, streamlined customs systems, and closer coordination between Zimbabwean and Mozambican border agencies.
A recent visit by Zimpapers found truck backlogs still severe on the Mozambican side of the border, with queues stretching well beyond Mumango, though the situation has improved considerably on the Zimbabwean side following recent operational interventions.
Officials believe the new dry ports – at Mutare, Dondo and now Kwala – will provide a lasting fix by separating transit cargo processing from border clearance procedures, cutting waiting times and lifting trade volumes.
