The News
Three global metals giants expressed interest in using Tanzania’s main port as a transit hub to expand their Africa presence, The Citizen Tanzania reported. Delegates from China Metal Storage and Transport Company, the Geneva-headquartered Mercuria, and their jointly owned subsidiary Henry Bath & Son, visited the Port of Dar es Salaam over the weekend.
“This is our next strategic location. We currently have no presence here, but we see Dar es Salaam as a key hub with growing trade volumes, CMST President Wang Haibin said, The Citizen reported.
Mercuria’s head of metals and minerals for Africa added that the partnership with Tanzania would allow the firm to “expand our footprint in Africa.” The energy-trading company has made a significant push into the metals market since late 2024.
Their interest is part of a broader push by China to encourage public-private partnerships in Africa, Elena Kiryakova, a research fellow at the think tank ODI, told Semafor. This offers a “more sustainable” approach to African investment than state-backed lending, she said.
Dar es Salaam is an important transit point for cobalt and copper mined from DR Congo and Zambia. Logistics bottlenecks in South Africa have slowed exports in recent months, Reuters noted, prompting China to invest $1.4 billion in upgrading the 50-year-old Tanzania-Zambia railway. The line is a competitor to the US-backed Lobito Corridor, which aims to refurbish train lines in Angola, DR Congo, and Zambia to improve mineral supply chains.
