(DTIS) Update, Volume 1 – Main report - Enhanced Integrated ...

Burundi has access to the Northern Corridor provides alternatives in case of disruptions to the CentralCorridor, like what happened in 2009 when the roads and railway were rendered impassable by floods.In addition to the main two corridors for access to the sea, Burundi also trades through the SouthernCorridor, connecting to Zambia, and beyond to the countries of the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity. The three corridors have road, rail and inland waterway transport, providing Burundi withdifferent permutations of multimodal combinations for its regional and international trade logistics.6.1 Central CorridorThe Central Corridor comprises three main mode options for Burundi (Table 5.2): (a) an all road routefrom Bujumbura to Dar es Salaam via the Kobero border post; (b) a road–rail option from Bujumbura byroad to Isaka, where there is a rail head, then by rail to Dar es Salaam, and (c) a lake–rail optionconsisting of barge from Bujumbura to Kigoma in Tanzania then rail to Dar es Salaam. The shortestmode combination is this lake/rail combination, which is 1,446km long. However the railway service inTanzania is currently not fully operational, after the track was damaged by floods in 2009.Table 5.2: Distances for Different Mode Options on the Central CorridorDistance (km)Route optionRail Road Lake TotalLake/rail 1255 .. 191 1446All road .. 1567 .. 1567Road/rail 999 659 .. 1658Source: Author’s estimatesAs roads between Bujumbura and Dar es Salaam have been improved in recent years, there are threemajor weak components to the Central Corridor for Burundian trade: i) poor cargo clearance at the portof Dar es Salaam; ii) non-availability of railway services and iii) old equipment on Lake Tanganyika.The main issues that have to be addressed to reduce trade costs are identified below.6.1.1 Port of Dar es SalaamDue to distance advantage and the fact that Burundian cargo transits through only one othercountry to reach a seaport, the main sea gateway for Burundi’s trade is the port of Dar es Salaamin Tanzania. As such, the performance of the port is critical to the overall efficiency of the corridor.However, the Port has not always performed at a high level. Leading up to the global financial crisis, thePort of Dar es Salaam was heavily congested. The container terminal at the Port of Dar es Salaam wasconcessioned in 2000 and realized a considerable improvement in handling and dwell times. Thecontainer terminal, however, is constrained by space limitations and the increased traffic through the portled to congestion and a rapid deterioration in port performance indicators. Several container freightstations were established to move cargo out of the port and to alleviate the congestion at the ContainerTerminal and at the gate. However, though the use of container freight stations has reduced thecongestion at the port and on the access roads, truckers still face problems in locating their containers atthe port. As a medium term measure, two new container berths are planned, contiguous to the currentcontainer berth. Presently, the port is operating freely with no congestion.Of course, a more important indicator of port performance from a trade perspective is the distribution ofdwell time for cargo handled through a port. For Burundi dwell times for cargo through Dar es Salaamhave always been long, in fact they have been longer than for cargo to the other landlocked countries(Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda) except the DRC (Table 5.3 and 5.4).98 / 153