The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has recently announced that it has extended the daily working hours of the Tanzania Inter-bank Settlement System (TISS) at financial institutions from the current five to twelve hours.
The new schedule is meant to reduce the consignments’ handling to only five days from the current nine that it takes, by which the Dar es Salaam port will be allowed to anchor more ships and extend its capacity from 15 million tons to 18 million tons per year in 2016, according to TPA.
Dar es Salaam Port Manager, Mr. Hebel Mhanga, explained that the TPA is focused on expanding the port’s capacity next year by improving operations, something that will be only reached if customers start using more often the TISS to speed up ground handling.
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Director of Payment System, Mr. Bernard Dadi, added that the Bank is engaged to extend the TISS’s availability to 24 hours per day, something that will be only determined by the customers’ demand on the payment system.
In addition, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Customs Commissioner, Mr. Tiagi Kabisi, explained that TISS has recorded achievements in revenues, since it has attracted more customers in Tanzania and also South Sudan.
TISS is currently available at 33 financial institutions in Tanzania and according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), it currently accounts for 40% of the total operations.
TISS extended availability is part of Dar Es Salaam port capacity expansion to meet future demand to be financed by a World Bank loan of USD 650 million to be released in October 2015.
In 2012/13 Dar Es Salaam port registered a Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 12.7 million from 12.2 million in 2011/12, TPA indicates.
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