Mombasa port lacks required marine pilots and engineers

A Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) tugboat helps the MV Mtafiti dock at the port of Mombasa. The recruitment of the next head of KPA is in high gear with experts warning that the government must get it right in picking the candidate. FILE PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Marine analyst Andrew Mwangura claimed the port of Mombasa has eight marine pilots, including a head of marine operations, a chief pilot and a hydrographic officer.
  • A shipping expert warned that operating the port with fewer marine pilots could be catastrophic.
  • He said the job needed round-the-clock “alertness and attention.”

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is facing an acute shortage of marine pilots and engineers, leading to a work overload at the country’s main sea port of Mombasa.

Sources told the Nation the port has only eight active pilots and it remains unclear how it will deal with the problem.

“Ports everywhere in the world require an optimal number of 17 pilots, out of [whom] 14 deal with the active day-to-day work while three handle administrative duties,” a source said.

Contacted for comment, marine analyst Andrew Mwangura claimed the port has eight marine pilots, including the head of marine operations, the chief pilot and a hydrographic officer.

According to Mr Mwangura, the authority lost Captain Francis Muhia, who resigned for greener postures in the Persian Gulf recently.

“The port also lost another pilot, a senior marine pilot, Captain Eugene Sylvester Okoth, who passed away recently,” he said, adding that it would take time to train more pilots to fill the huge gap.

A shipping expert who spoke on condition of anonymity warned that operating the port with fewer marine pilots could be catastrophic, bearing in mind the job needed round-the-clock “alertness and attention.”

“A pilot is a mariner who manoeuvres ships through dangerous or congested waters like our treacherous channel into the port.

"[The work] requires an alert and well-trained mind [so as] not to cause marine accidents,” the expert said.

KPA chairman Marsden Madoka said the agency had launched a training programme to increase the number of personnel to the required level.