Dar es Salaam's port manager, Cassian Ngamilo, says Tanzania will spend $1.4 billion on the two projects. The new port is estimated to cost $600 million, while dredging works and construction of two berths at the Dar es Salaam port will take another $520 million, he said.

The construction tender for berths Nos. 13 and 14 at Dar es Salaam received a setback last December when a Chinese company, China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), moved to court to block Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), the main operator of Dar es Salaam port, from awarding the contract to any other company.

CCCC has argued it signed a memorandum of agreement with TPA in 2010 in which the state agency pledged not to give the feasibility study by the Chinese firm to a third party for purposes of construction at the port. The move has delayed the announcement of the winner of the contract, which also attracted another Chinese company, China Merchant Holdings Co. TPA already has received $523 million from China for the two berths and dredging works.

The port, which serves Malawi, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, handled an estimated 475,000 TEUs in 2012, compared to 415,000 TEUs the previous year.

Dar es Salaam port is the starting point for two major transport corridors in Africa. They are served by the Tanzania Railway Ltd. railway line and the TAZARA railway line.

In western Africa, the Takoradi port is undergoing expansion, with the government of Ghana recently announcing a new contract awarded to Belgium’s Jan De Nul and China’s China Harbour Engineering Dredging.

By the fourth quarter of 2012, Ghana's construction industry's year-on-year growth was 10.7%; it is expected remain at an average of 8.5% by 2016. Several infrastructure projects in the energy and transport sectors are being implemented and have attracted growing imports of construction equipment.

The Takoradi port project involves expansion of existing breakwaters to 1,150 m, dredging access channels to a depth of 12.5 m, construction of a new iron-ore jetty and transfer of operations of manganese, bauxite, clinker and limestone to new jetties. The existing manganese terminal will be converted into an oil services terminal, according to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. The $200-million project also involves the reconstruction of roads entering the port, land reclamation and storage yards.

Germany's Sellhorn Engineering and Hamburg Port Consulting have been contracted to supervise the port expansion plans and the implementation of the overall master plan for the Takoradi port. 

In southern Africa’s mineral-rich country of Mozambique, China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. has been awarded a $1.5-billion contract by Brazilian mining giant Vale’s subsidiary Vale Canada Ltd. for the construction of a new coal container terminal at the Nacala port. The project is slated for completion by the end of the year and involves the construction of the 435-m-long main berth, a 770-m-long approach bridge and a 550-m-long channel behind the shore.

Vale, the world’s largest iron-ore producer, plans to spend $4.4 billion for construction of new and upgrading of existing infrastructure in the Nacala corridor. These will include the upgrading of Nacala port and construction of a 912-kilometer railway line to link the port to the coal-rich fields of Mozambique’s Moatize basin.