THE outlook for Mombasa port is showing signs of improvement as a modernisation project and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is generating more revenue for the key gateway for Kenya’s trade.

The port earned KES45.35 billion (US$449.8 million) in 2018, equivalent to an increase of KES4 billion over the previous year’s KES41.56 billion, on the back of slightly higher container shipping volumes, after it handled 30.92 million tonnes of cargo, up from 30.34 million in 2017.

According to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), profit before tax for 2018 declined marginally from KES10.6 billion to KES10.3 billion, mainly due to an increase in expenditure, reported Daily Nation, Mombasa.

With the five-year modernisation project, which entailed dredging the navigation channel and constructing Berth 19, the port has raised its capacity to handle panamax vessels of up to 382 metres in length, and the upgrade of cargo unloading equipment has lowered berth occupancy times from five to 1.55 days.

A second container terminal is now under construction that will bump up the port’s container handling capacity by 450,000 TEU.

Port grants from the government rose to KES5 billion in 2018, up from KES588 million the previous year, as the country intensified the port’s modernisation efforts to bring it up to par with its competitors, including ports in Durban, Egypt and Lagos.

The push to have importers use the SGR and collect their cargo from the Nairobi Inland Container Depot in Embakasi also breathed life into the previously underutilised facility, boosting its handling capacity to 257,972 TEU.

According to a KPA report, the Embakasi ICD last year handled 177, 652 TEU of import trade, up from 15,110 units in 2017. The depot also saw a rise in the empty units heading back to Mombasa port from the depot, to stand at 68,619 units, up from 10,636 in 2017. In September Kenya Railways finished lying the port relief line to the conventional cargo berth.
Source: Sea News

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