When recently President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Pierre Nkuruzinza of Burundi officially flagged off two sets of block trains along the Central Corridor to Ishaka and Bujumbura respectively, it signalled Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete’s determination to remove non tariff barriers (NTBs).

Block trains give bulk shippers opportunities to save on transport costs and take delivery of their consignments much quicker than usual. This also applies when one is exporting. Introducting block trains gives business people more options and less red tape to deal with. This is great news for manufacturers and industrialists in Burundi and Rwanda.

When handed the East African Community Summit Chair in Nairobi in January, Kikwete promised his colleagues there would be a huge improvement along the Central Corridor. He said no efforts are to be spared in getting rid of NTBs. Quitely obviously, he is living up to his words, because block trains reduce delays. Presently, the EAC has two main trunk routes into the hinterland and the landlocked countries of Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Northern Corridor entry point is through Mombasa, while Dar es Salaam port acts as the entrepot for the Central Corridor. The Tanzania government has been making efforts to pay for the refurbishment of the Central Corridor rail line which stretches a length of about 1,250 kilometres. Plans are to also upgrade it to a Standard Gauge line to complement construction of a similar railway along the Northern Corridor.

There are some notable advantages being offered by this Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL) service. A block train usualy consists of goods from one or two shippers. Therefore it offers flexibility and convenience for the shipper. Compare this with the Single Wagon Load product which has to ferry multiple shippers and deal with equally numerous eventualities.

Common commodities for block train transportation are agriculture produce, machine parts and such inputs as clinker for cement production. The wagons can either belong to the customer, wagon or are rented by the railway operator; in this case TRL. TRL gain in that a high use of the wagons is the most cost beneficial since the wagons are very often dedicated to a special business.

Block train are less complex than Single Wagon Load traffic because the train does not need to be stopped for shunting procedures. It has the advantage that the customer can transport quickly his goods (without losing time due to the stops in the marshalling yard). The disadvantage though is that he needs to have sufficient goods to fill his train. This because of the customer takes the business risk when he is purchasing the whole train and he has very often to pay for a full train even though he doesn’t have goods for it.

Both Dar and Mombasa are in the middle of upgrading facilities to become more efficient and attract more business. Thanks to substsantial assistance from multilateral partners like the World Bank, and the European Union and bilateral support from China, East Africa’s transport network is taking an improved shape. Once upgraded the Tanzania Central line is expected to carry 35 million tonnes of freight annually to Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and eastern DRC.

The aim of transport is to physically move supplies in a reliable and safe manner, on time, cost effectively and efficiently to its destination.

This is how you can keep prices down for consumers. Once your supply chain is predictable, then you do not have to factor in unforeseen costs which tends to drive up the final price of your goods.

Dar es Salaam and Mombasa ports are vying to be the best, and in doing so will eventually develop a reliable logistics infrastructure which increases East Africa’s international competitiveness.

Source: East African Business Week

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.