Seaport Consultants - Port and Transportation Consulting

East Africa

US Trade Development Administration, Madagascar. Multimodal transport mission. Seaport Consultants Inc. participated in aTDA Definitional Mission regarding multi-sector opportunities in Madagascar. The project involved analysis of port and tug and barge system business opportunities for US firms and suppliers.

US Department of Agriculture, Tanzania, Kenya & Uganda. Evaluation of transport-related aid programs. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) implemented a series of training programs and workshops focusing on concrete steps to improve the efficiency of agricultural trucking and rail movements to and from regional ports. Seaport Consultants Inc. assisted in monitoring progress of the training program and in assessing the results. Seaport also recommended changes to future programs.

International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Assistance and advice for bid for container terminal concession. Seaport Consultants Canada brought together ICTSI, a major international container terminal operating company, and a Tanzanian firm, Vertex Financial Services, to bid for the container terminal operating concession in the Port of Dar es Salaam. Seaport also assisted ICTSI and its local partner in their bid for the concession. The work involved gathering cost and operational data, preparing national and regional port traffic forecasts, evaluating the concession's financial performance, developing tender documents for the concession under internationally-competitive bidding, and advising on the ultimate bid price. In October 1999, the partnership was successful in its bid for the concession. Canadian International Port Services Inc., a sister company of Seaport Consultants Canada Inc., provided executive and operational expertise to the partnership during the mobilization and initial hand-over period of the terminal from governmental to private operations. The container terminal privatization has been a success for both its operator, Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (now owned in part by Hutchison Port Holdings), and for Tanzania.

Morrison Knudsen, East Africa. Mining logistics study. Seaport Consultants Inc. assessed rail and maritime logistics alternatives for a new copper mining venture in central Africa. Seaport's work included:

Investigation of various rail systems linking the mine site in central Africa with various ports on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, concentrating on port access.

Cost analysis of alternative ports and modes.

Analysis of backhaul sulfur and other mine consumables traffic.

Definition of requirements for specialized containers capable of handling copper cathodes in one direction and bulk prill sulfur in the other direction.

Investigation of safety requirements for sulfur transport.

Supervision of overall container concept design and analysis of ventilation requirements.

Preliminary negotiation with the selected port and marine terminal operator.