Port records 9.9 per cent rise in cargo clearance

Published on December 11, 2007, 12:00 am :The Standard
By Benson Kathuri
Cargo clearance at the port of Mombasa rose by 9.9 per cent in the first ten months of this year.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director, Mr Abdallah Mwaruwa, also said container traffic at the port increased by 22.3 per cent in the same period.
He said the port handled 13.16 million tonnes of cargo compared to 11.97 million tonnes in the same period, last year.
Mwaruwa was speaking at this year’s KPA Customers and Stakeholders Annual Dinner at a Mombasa hotel.
He, however, said the year was characterised by cargo congestion mainly due to poor off-take by roads and rail services.
In October, several shipping lines had threatened to impose a delay surcharge to cushion them against costs incurred from delayed offloading of their vessels.
"The port also received a lot of diverted cargo from neighbouring ports which were experiencing higher levels of vessel congestion," said Mwaruwa.
He said cargo to and from the neighbouring countries had recorded a 5.5 per cent growth rates in the past two years.
Mombasa port also serves landlocked Uganda, Rwanda, Southern Sudan and DRC.
Transport minister, Mr Chirau Ali Mwakwere, said the port had paid Sh1.3 billion to the Treasury as dividend in the past three years.
A new tariff structure expected to reduce handling costs at the Mombasa Port is to be implemented from February.
However, the Kenya Ships Agents Association Chairman, Mr James Knight, asked for more time for consultations before the tariff comes into effect.
Knight also welcomed the proposed port expansion especially the construction of the second container terminal and harbour channel dredging and widening of the turning basin.