IN SUMMARY

• Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) says it is eyeing higher volumes of transshipment cargo when it takes over the completed phase one of the second container terminal currently under construction at Mombasa port.
• Despite the potential in the region the KPA has over the years restricted the volume of transit cargo to avoid congestion due to limited handling and storage capacities.
• Statistics by the port manager showed transshipment (handling of goods destined for other ports) has over the years remained at less than one per cent of the total cargo containers handled at the port.

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) says it is eyeing higher volumes of transshipment cargo when it takes over the completed phase one of the second container terminal currently under construction at Mombasa port.

Despite the potential in the region the KPA has over the years restricted the volume of transit cargo to avoid congestion due to limited handling and storage capacities.

“With the ever growing container and overall port cargo throughput in Mombasa, this new terminal will offer the much needed space to match the growth. The KPA also looks forward to increasing its capacity to handle transshipment cargo for the neighbouring ports which of late are struggling with serious congestion problems,” the KPA said in an update.

READ: Part of new Mombasa port terminal opens in March

Statistics by the port manager showed transshipment (handling of goods destined for other ports) has over the years remained at less than one per cent of the total cargo containers handled at the port.

Kenya is currently building the Sh28 billion second container terminal at Mombasa port to handle increased trade in the region. The new terminal is projected to handle 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) and rise to 1.2million TEUs by 2019.

Expansion of the Mombasa port is crucial to serving landlocked countries including Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo especially to handle increased importation of commodities like steel. The facility has been losing market share to the neighbouring Dar es Salaam port due to congestion.

Although the port was designed to handle 250,000 TEUs per year, cargo volumes have grown exponentially to reach a record 1 million TEUs in 2015.

In 2015 the total cargo throughput handled at the port stood at 26.732 million tonnes compared to 24.875 million the previous year, reflecting a growth of 7.5 per cent. A total of 22.67 million tonnes of cargo were imports while 3.53 million tonnes were export commodities.

Transit traffic to the East African hinterland significantly increased from 7.19 million tonnes in 2014 to 7.66 million in 2015. “Going by 2015 trends and statistics, almost all transit countries are increasingly using the port of Mombasa,” the KPA said.

Uganda continued to dominate the transit market share with her cargo that grew by 8.2 per cent from 5.52 million tonnes in 2014 to 5.97 million tonnes in 2015. In the transshipment segment Rwanda registered the biggest growth of 23.7 per cent to record 291,924 tonnes in 2015 up from 235,912 tonnes in 2014.

Source: Business Daily

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