Transhipment traffic dropped by 9.5 per cent in the six months to June raising concerns on the future of the segment which has set Mombasa port aside as a regional hub.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi last week said that transhipment traffic dropped to 260,444 tonnes in the six months from 287,952 tonnes for a similar period in 2015.
Transhipment involves large vessels docking at the port and redistributing their cargo to smaller ships that serve regional ports.
The ports include Dar es Salaam, Pemba, Mogadishu and Mauritius Island. “KPA is cognisant of the decline in volumes and towards that end, a multiagency taskforce has been formed to look into ways of revamping transhipment traffic through the Port of Mombasa,” Mrs Mturi-Wairi said.
Market niche
“I am reliably informed that the taskforce has developed an action plan on the activities to be undertaken to recapture this market niche. We expect to see a positive trend by close of the year.”
KPA had earlier in the year stated it was eyeing higher transhipment volumes assisted by the second container terminal in Mombasa.
Shipping lines have previously asked KPA to ease the procedure and cost of transhipment, adding that most of those engaging in the business at Mombasa port mostly consider convenience rather than commercial reasons.
Transhipment cargo has grown nearly fivefold since 2013 when the port handled 100,374 tonnes.
This growth played a key role in pushing the total container traffic handled at the port to over one million TEU (twenty foot equivalent units) in 2014.
Source: Business Daily Africa
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