The Port of Mombasa on Friday recorded yet another ft record performance after registering 1,039 moves of containers per shift, despite the coronavirus downturn.
A vessel, the Rio Centaurus, which was docked at berth Number 21, had 3,050 containers on board.
Kenya Ports Authority crane operator Joseph Maina registered a new individual crane record of 409 move, translating to 51 moves per hour.
The previous week, George Ominde registered 362 moves per crane shift on the MV Cosco Yinkou.
Last Friday, the operations for the vessel Rio Centaurus, which measured 229 meters in length - equivalent to about two football patches - commenced with the first sling at 2300 hours.
The vessel worked with three ship-to-shore gantry cranes.
KPA acting MD Rashid Salim expressed satisfaction with the performance, which he attributed to good coordination, teamwork and supervision.
“Congratulations to the team, including crane operators, terminal tractor drivers, supervisors and all those involved because this is a combination of efforts,” Salim said.
The port plans to purchase new yard equipment in the next financial year to facilitate seamless performance, he said. It will include twin hook spreaders and new ship-to-shore gantry cranes.
KPA acting head of container operations Patrick Makau said the excellent performance was registered despite the Covid-19 pandemic challenges.
“We are currently operating in a very different scenario whereby at the moment 240 container operations staff are out of station,” he said.
Maersk vessel coordinator Priston Agogo commended KPA for the record witnessed at the Second Container Terminal since it started operations.
“KPA should continue maintaining its ship-to-shore gantry cranes ad tug masters to sustain or even surpass the record," he said.
The Rio Centaurus is a joint venture between Maersk and Cosco shipping lines.
(Edited by V. Graham)
