AGL Kicks Off Construction of Bagamoyo Port After Decade of Stalemate

In January 2026, Africa Global Logistics (AGL), a subsidiary of MSC, finally kicked off the construction of the Bagamoyo Port after a stalemate lasting about a decade. The situation was resolved after the Tanzania Ports Authority signed a new agreement with AGL in December 2025 for the construction and operation of the first phase of the #Bagamoyo Port Project.

Initially, the Bagamoyo port was hailed as a flagship project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and China Merchants Holding International was designated to invest, build, and operate the port. A groundbreaking ceremony even took place in 2015. But in 2019, then President Maguful considered that the price tag of USD 10 billion was excessive. Thus, he cancelled the deal and even went so far as to call the terms as ‘exploitative and predatory.’

In 2021, President Hassan revived negotiations and earmarked the Project as a ‘national priority’ to ease congestion at Dar es Salaam, which handles 90% of the cargo of Tanzania. In December 2025, an agreement was reached with Africa Global Logistics, the subsidiary of global shipping major Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

The Bagamoyo Port consists of 28 berths with a depth of 20 meters that can accommodate the largest ultra-large container vessels (ULCV) of up to 25,000 TEU. The Project also included an integrated Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with an area of 9,800 hectares next to the port facilities.

Now, the first phase has been trimmed down to just three berths, and the construction is expected to take 36 months, with the delivery expected in 2029. The master plan for Bagamoyo made provisions to ramp up the throughput of the container terminal to handle up to 20 million TEU by 2045.