Customer Satisfaction and The Current Dwell Time at Dar Es Salaam Port.

Abstract

Customer Satisfaction is an important factor that influence any organization short-term success and long-term success. This study investigated customer satisfaction and the current dwell time taking the Dar es Salaam Port as a case study. The achieve the above investigation the study had two objectives including: - firstly, to determine level of customers perceived service quality in terms of Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangibility, secondly, to examine the factors determining the dwell time at Dar es salaam Port. Methodologically, the study used questionnaire to collect data from 150 respondents (all of them from Dar Es Salaam) , including 77 clearing and forwarding agents` employees and 73 normal or individual importers that are using the Dar es Salaam Port to receive their cargos. By using SERVQUAL Model and Descriptive Statistics by using SPSS version 21, the collected data was analyzed. It was found that, enterally the customer is dissatisfied with the Dar es Salaam Port services. The customers expected more on empathy and tangibility while the customer perceived satisfaction at the Port were low due to low Reliability and tangibility. Moreover, the dwell time was maximum of 9 days and a minimum of 3 days with an average dwell time of 5.74 days. Moreover, it was found that the customers consider dwell time as a significant driver for their perceived perception. Based on the above findings the study recommended the following, improvement of physical facilities at the Port including machinery and other tangible facilities. Also the study recommends improvement in services provided by ensuring that they keep their promises to customers through training on customer relationship management, can help employees to be more responsible and accountable to the customers. Moreover, the study recommend the same study is needed for other Tanzania Sea Ports such as Tanga and Mtwara.