DAR ES SALAAM, March 25 -- FOR decades, the Great Lakes of Africa—Victoria and Tanganyika—were viewed by many as natural barriers to trade. Today, they are being reimagined as “blue superhighways.” With the recent commissioning of the MV New Mwanza on Lake Victoria and the simultaneous construction of four 2,000-tonne cargo ships at Karema Port on Lake Tanganyika, we are steadily cementing our status as the definitive logistics heart of East and Central Africa.

These initiatives are not isolated infrastructure projects; they are the physical manifestation of Tanzania Development Vision 2050 and the Third and Fourth Five-Year Development Plans (FYDP III & IV).

By leveraging its unique geography, Tanzania is positi...