The Port of Mombasa is on track to achieve its target of 1.3 million containers this year.
On Monday, the port of Mombasa crossed its one million marks, the Kenya Ports Authority managing director Daniel Manduku has said.
Last year, the port handled 1.2 million 20-foot Total Equivalent Units. TEU is a standard for measurement for the containers globally.
Manduku said with only three months remaining to the close of the year, they are optimistic they will beat their 1.3 million-target with a bigger margin.
In February, KPA launched its five-year ( 2018-2022 ) plan to improve services at the Mombasa port, targeting to handle 1.599 million by 2022.
In the last five years, container traffic has grown 28.71 per cent to 1.3 million TEUs last year compared to 1.01 million TEUs handled in 2014.
“On Monday, we surpassed the one million-mark TEUs. Normally, in the maritime sector, one million TEU is a very high threshold and I’m happy to announce that almost four months to the end of the year, we have already surpassed the one million mark,” said Manduku.
He said with the increased efficiency at the port, they might even handle 1.5 million TEUs.
Speaking to the press during a media tour Thursday, Manduku said they are currently constructing the phase 11 of the second container terminal.
Phase one of the terminal, which was officially opened around 2016, has a capacity of 550 TEUs.
Phase II of the second container terminal, which is now at around 30 per cent, will have a capacity of 450 TEUs and the third phase will have a capacity of 400 TEUs.
“After the completion of the second container terminal, the port will have a total capacity of over three million TEUs annually,” he said.
The second container terminal is being constructed on a reclaimed part of an Indian Ocean.
In phase I of the terminal, some 50 acres of land was reclaimed from the sea. In Phase II, another 50 acres of land is being reclaimed from the sea.
Currently, Mombasa is the fifth biggest port in Africa with a capacity of 1.2 million TEUs.
The port of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania only handles 60 per cent of what is currently being handled in Mombasa.
KPA is currently doing an average of 10 Standard Gauge Railway trains to Nairobi daily.
“Cargo evacuation via the SGR has really improved,” said Manduku.
In July, the port monthly performance for the number of SGR freight trains to Nairobi hit an all-time high of 221, KPA boss revealed.
