Coastwise traffic
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233. Almost all the goods required for the development of the Southern Province had to be shipped through Lindi. A rough road can be used between Dar-es-Salaam and Lindi during the dry weather only. The journey by lorry takes three days.
234. Lindi provides a sheltered anchorage for ocean-going vessels and a small stone lighterage jetty with one light steam crane. Five landing craft were used for the movement of heavy equipment and supplies to Mkwaya. Freight rates for the normal transfer of equipment were prohibitive. It cost £148 to ship a heavy tractor the two hundred miles from Dar-es-Salaam to Lindi as compared with £178 from London to Dar-es-Salaam, a distance of 8,060 miles. And the services of the local coastwise vessels were so irregular that it sometimes took three months to move urgently required supplies-- food for example-from Dar-es-Salaam to Lindi.
235. Towards the end of the year the coastal shipping position improved, and economies were effected by despatching equipment on ships direct from London to Lindi, thus by-passing Dar-es-Salaam and easing the burden at that port.
Railways
236. Dar-es-Salaam and Kongwa and Urambo are linked by the Central Railway Line. This is a single track metre-gauge railway which handles traffic between the coast and Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria, and also carries traffic for the Belgian Congo.
237. The increased traffic of the post-war years combined with the fact that there had been little renewal of rolling stock during the war threw a very heavy strain on the Central Line when the opening up of Kongwa and Urambo began.
238. The shortage of engines and rolling stock had resulted in a sub- stantial build-up of stores in Dar-es-Salaam. The position improved during the year; for the arrival of new and second-hand rolling stock, including four practically new locomotives, trebled the capacity of the Central Line. 239. The Corporation's rail tonnages from Dar-es-Salaam showed a pro- gressive increase, as the following, the weekly average of rail tonnage move- ments, shows:-
Kongwa: First half of 1948
Second half of 1948 First quarter of 1949
Urambo: First half of 1948
Motor Transport
Second half of 1948 First quarter of 1949
...
...
...
...
313 tons 548
828
""
138
""
262
""
363
240. The Corporation took over from the Managing Agents 955 lorries, 76 jeeps and 18 motor cars. Almost all of these were obtained from surplus war stores and were not expected to remain serviceable for long. New vehicles were ordered to replace them but their arrival was delayed and the maintenance of adequate motor transport service in the summer of 1948 pro- vided a serious problem. The position did not ease until 200 new trucks arrived in October, 1948. At the end of March, 1949, there were 1,536 lorries in East Africa of which 1,082 were new.
.
241. As the jeeps purchased from the surplus war-time dumps wear out they are being replaced by a British equivalent, 400 of which have been ordered for the Corporation. At the end of March 185 of these machines were in East Africa, all of which were in use.
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