Dar es Salaam — A proposed regional cabotage protocol was placed at the centre of an African maritime ministers’ meeting in Dar es Salaam, as new figures showed cargo at the Port of Dar es Salaam reached a record 33.71 million tonnes in 2025/26.

The proposal was presented at the 10th Assembly of Ministers of the Maritime Organisation for Eastern, Southern and Northern Africa on October 15. Tanzania took over the organisation’s chairmanship at the meeting, whose agenda also included regional shipping connectivity, training, safety and environmental protection.

Cabotage means carrying cargo or passengers between ports within a country or group of countries. The Revised African Maritime Transport Charter describes trans-African cabotage as maritime transport between member-state ports and urges states to promote it, including through national and regional shipping lines and private-sector participation.

The MOESNA proposal is designed to create a regional legal and commercial framework through which African-owned or African-based operators could take a larger share of that traffic. Its stated objectives include more regular regional services, stronger bargaining power over freight terms, seafarer training, ship ownership and keeping more freight revenue within African economies.

At the meeting, Transport Minister Prof. Makame Mbarawa said Tanzania wanted MOESNA to deliver “real economic results” rather than remain “a forum of meetings and resolutions.” The proposal is linked to planned cooperation between regional shipping companies, private investment in vessels and a proposed regional maritime university.

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The idea reflects a longer regional process rather than a shipping line ready to begin operations. A MOESNA-commissioned feasibility brief says the model depends on a cabotage regime and must assess market demand, viable routes, financing, national laws, safety and environmental safeguards, enforcement and dispute-resolution arrangements.

The instrument, however, remains a draft and Thursday’s conference did not record its signing or ratification; its terms of reference envisage a process for adoption, implementation and ratification by participating states.

Governments would need to align domestic law, while operators would need finance, vessels, cargo commitments and dependable port and inland connections before regular services could run.

Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba, who opened the assembly, said a regional system would not be sustainable without enough cargo and passengers, capable vessels and ports. 

He said debate on the protocol should proceed alongside cooperation among regional shipping companies, investment in ships and stronger African private-sector participation.

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The commercial case is shaped by the continent’s dependence on sea transport and vulnerability to shocks on long-distance routes. UN Trade and Development estimates that more than 80 per cent of world trade by volume moves by sea, while its Africa assessment says disruptions around the Red Sea have lengthened delivery times and affected supplies and containers in East Africa.

Thursday’s conference was told that the protocol could help improve choices for cargo moving between African ports, but it will not on its own remove high logistics costs. The feasibility work itself identifies political, operational and financial barriers, while the success of any regional carrier would depend on shared rules, credible financing, sufficient return cargo and reliable rail, road, border and port services.

Dar es Salaam illustrates both the opportunity and the constraint. The Tanzania Ports Authority identifies it as the country’s principal port and a gateway for Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe, handling about 95 per cent of Tanzania’s international trade.

Nchemba said at the assembly that throughput had risen from about 18 million tonnes in 2020/21 to more than 33 million tonnes in the financial year that ended in 2025/26, an account consistent with a recent report citing Port Director Abed Gallus, which put the 2025/26 total at 33.71 million tonnes, up from 27.7 million tonnes a year earlier, and said transit cargo reached 14.61 million tonnes.

Those volumes make the port a potential anchor for regional sea services, but they also increase pressure on the links beyond the quay. The same report said cargo for the DRC, Rwanda and Zambia accounted for much of the transit trade, underlining why shipping connections would have to work with railways, dry ports, roads and border procedures rather than separately from them.

The regional initiative also now sits within a continent-wide legal setting. The African Union says its Revised African Maritime Transport Charter entered into force in August 2025, providing a framework for policy harmonisation, maritime training, port efficiency and transport corridors serving both coastal and landlocked states.