Port in Sh20bn growth plan

Story by ABDULSAMAD ALI Publication Date: 4/21/2008

Over Sh20 billion will be used to dredge and build the second container terminal to allow bigger vessels to call at the port of Mombasa, Transport minister Chirau Mwakwere has said.

He said Sh16 billion will be used to build and equip the second container terminal while Sh4 billion will go to dredging of the harbour channel and widening of the turning basin.
The construction of the second container terminal is being funded with assistance from Japan while the Government is undertaking the dredging. Both projects are set to be complete by 2011.
Currently, the Mombasa port can only handle mid-sized vessels due to the depth of the channel thereby reducing it to a feeder port.
“Because of the success the port has had in the recent past, its cargo handling capacity is overstretched,” said Mr Mwakwere in a speech read on his behalf by Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) chairman General (Rtd) Joseph Kibwana.
This was during a golf tournament to mark the 30th anniversary of KPA at the Nyali Golf and Country Club over the weekend.

Mombasa port last year handled a total of 15.9 million tones representing a rise of over 1.5 million tones or 10.5 per cent compared to 14.4 million tones handled in 2006.
“This performance was against a backdrop of a very challenging year in which the authority successfully weathered the threat of the vessel delay surcharge (VDS),” he said.
The Port of Dar Es Salaam is already reeling under the punitive VDS by shipping lines due to serious delays in clearance of ships that call at the port. The waiting period for vessels to be
cleared has been on an average of 10 days.

Help ease pressure

The Kenyan port was also threatened with the vessel delay surcharge when ships had to wait for over eight days but this has since changed after the management convinced the shipping lines that there would be a drastic turn around.
KPA managing director, Mr Abdalla Mwaruwa, said the 24-hour seven days a week port operations has helped ease the pressure on the authority.
“This has meant that cargo leave the port on a 24-hour basis which has made it move through the gates rise from a previous average of 400 units (containers) to 950 units a day,” said Mr Mwaruwa.