The The Influence of Warehouse Cargo Handling on Transport Operational Effectiveness: A Case of Dar es Salaam Corridor Group Warehouse
Abstrak
Warehouses link storage to transport, yet poor waste management, unreliable equipment and long truck turnaround times continue to undermine transport operations. Little evidence exists on which handling factors matter at the level of a single inland facility in Tanzania. This study examined how warehouse waste reduction practices, cargo handling equipment utilization and truck turnaround time influence transport operational effectiveness at Dar es Salaam Corridor Group (DCG) Warehouse. A positivist, deductive, cross-sectional survey design was used. A structured five-point Likert questionnaire was administered to employees, and 101 valid responses (87.8% response rate) were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression in IBM SPSS Statistics version 27. All three factors had a positive and significant effect on transport operational effectiveness. Waste reduction practices had the strongest effect, followed by equipment utilization and truck turnaround time. Together the three factors explained 40.2% of the variation in transport operational effectiveness. The study adds evidence from inland warehouse operations, which are less studied than ports, and recommends better layout and storage organization, structured preventive maintenance and scheduling of equipment, and a truck appointment system.
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