The port of Mombasa is lagging its regional hub competitors in southern and West Africa in expansion and efficiency, slowing down Kenya’s potential to reap from international trade volumes as a gateway to East Africa.

Consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) say while the Mombasa port is ahead of other ports in the region such as Dar es Salaam and Djibouti, it’s trailing Durban in South Africa and ports in West Africa such as Lagos-Apapa and Abidjan.

Kenya has positioned Mombasa as the hub port for East and Central Africa in line with global trend where giant shipping lines prefer partnerships with a few regional hub ports.

Durban is the preferred hub port in southern Africa, while West African countries are investing heavily in expansion of their ports and roping private sector in operations in a bid to become preferred hub ports.

“East Africa is, in context of Africa, the market that’s the least developed in respect of hub port development. We see a bit of a lag in East Africa in terms of investments within the ports and also potentially a lag in involving the private sector,” PwC Africa transport and logistics leader Andrew Shaw said in Nairobi on Thursday.

Source: Business Daily