Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Port · TZDAR · -6.84°, 39.30° · Mineral Products, Vegetable Products, Chemical & Allied Industries
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 9
- vessel calls / yr
- 907
About the port
The World Port Index lists Dar Es Salaam as a medium coastal natural harbour with excellent shelter.
Listed depths: 9 m in the channel, 13 m at the anchorage, 8 m at the cargo pier and 11 m at the oil terminal, with a mean rise of tide of 3 m.
Entry can be restricted by tide and other conditions.
Pilotage is compulsory.
Repair facilities are rated limited.
Dar Es Salaam is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 1,140 port calls at Dar Es Salaam from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 95 a month, 11% more than in the twelve months before.
By vessel type, container ships 40%, ro-ro vessels 18% and dry bulk carriers 18% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 13 million t imported and 457 thousand t exported.
The busiest month was May 2026 (111 calls) and the quietest Nov 2025 (78).
What is reported near this port
9 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Dar Es Salaam, the earliest issued in 2001; the most common types are cable ops (3), incidents (2) and piracy (2).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Dar Es Salaam is not necessarily about the port; collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17.
Port calls per month · IMF PortWatch estimates
Oct 2024 – Sep 2026 (last bar: month in progress) · last complete month Aug 2026: 98 calls, 1.1 million t in, 26 thousand t out
Warnings within 60 nm, by year of issue
In force within 60 nm · 0
Nothing in force within 60 nm right now.
Port characteristics · World Port Index
- harbour
- medium coastal natural
- shelter
- excellent
- water body
- Indian Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA VIII
- depths
- channel 9 m · anchorage 13 m · cargo pier 8 m · oil terminal 11 m
- mean rise of tide
- 3 m
- entrance restricted by
- other, tide; not ice, swell
- turning area
- yes
- good holding ground
- yes
- pilotage
- advisable, compulsory
- tugs
- assistance
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- anchorage, wharves
- cranes
- fixed, floating, mobile
- services
- garbage disposal, longshore labour, medical; not dirty ballast reception
- supplies
- diesel, fuel oil, provisions, water; not deck stores, engine stores
- repairs
- limited
- marine railway
- small
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 171 (Enroute) - East Africa and the South Indian Ocean
- chart
- 61192
World Port Index entry Dar Es Salaam (No. 47010), matched by UN/LOCODE. NGA Publication 150 (U.S. government work). The index describes the port as last surveyed for the publication; it is not a substitute for Sailing Directions or port authority information.
Share of Tanzania's maritime trade through this port (PortWatch): imports 84%, exports 28%.
Chokepoint and port data: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org) — IMF and the University of Oxford, via the UN Global Platform. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts and port authority notices.