Cargo at Mombasa port up marginally as traffic falls
What you need to know:
- The growth in total cargo throughput and decline in container numbers indicate that there was an increase in the amount of loose cargo handled.
This includes items such as steel bars and grains which are not packed in containers.
Overall cargo cleared at the Mombasa port for the six months to June rose marginally by 1.4 per cent even as the container traffic handled dropped.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi said a total of 13.4 million tonnes were handled at the port, up from 13.2 million tonnes in the six months to June 2015.
But the container traffic dropped by 0.6 per cent bucking a growth trend that has seen Kenya pour billions of shillings to expand the capacity.
A total of 527,523 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) was registered in the six months compared to 530,608 TEUs for a similar period last year. One TEU is the equivalent of a twenty foot container.
“I wish to note that this is below the expectations of the global average growth rate of four per cent per annum,” said Ms Mturi-Wairi at a KPA luncheon in Nairobi yesterday.
Container traffic growth
The growth in total cargo throughput and decline in container numbers indicate that there was an increase in the amount of loose cargo handled.
This includes items such as steel bars and grains which are not packed in containers.
The Mombasa port has been recording annual container traffic growth and hit one million TEUs in 2014 with the government investing billions of shillings in expansion of the terminals.
President Uhuru Kenyatta last month commissioned the first phase of the second container terminal which has a capacity of 550,000 TEUs. Construction of phase two will commence in June 2017.
Ms Mturi-Wairi noted the performance of the port has increased with key measures like ship turnaround time improving from 3.7 days last year to three days currently.
Containers are also being evacuated from the port faster with the dwell time dropping from 5.3 days to 4.3 days.
The facility is Kenya’s only sea port that handles traffic for the country and landlocked neighbours Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
