Kenya Port Authority MD Daniel Manduku has promised to transform the Port of Mombasa into the best freight facility in Africa.
KPA’s remarkable improvement in performance over the past six months coincided with Manduku’s appointment at its helm. He replaced Catherine Mturi-Wairi.
Manduku surpassed his competitors to be confirmed as the MD on November 30, having acted in that capacity since May 31. And if the second half of 2018 was successful, Manduku has another bigger target — to steer the port to the best in Africa.
His reign so far has helped the port to break at least four performance records. It has reduced the number of containers sitting at the port from an all-time high of 22,500 to about 10,000, hit 190 gross moves per hour, increased cargo evacuation and ensured revenue collection by the Kenya Revenue Authority hits Sh50 billion a month.
In a Christmas and New Year message to port workers and clients, he said he will steer the facility to even greater success next year, but will need cooperation from all sector players.
“In 2019, we will continue working together, working hard and ensuring our Mombasa port continues growing to be the best in Africa within three years,” Manduku said.
Despite the promise, the journey will not be without challenges. First, the KPA boss will have to use his people management skills that have endeared him to workers to disabuse them of the fears that the second container terminal could be handed over to the Kenya National Shipping Line.
Dock Worker’s Union general secretary Simon Sang said a handover would lead to privatisation of the terminal, and half of workers would eventually be laid off.
According to reports, there are ongoing high-level discussions between the Office of the President and the Transport ministry to have the running of the terminal transferred to the KNSL.
Sang told the Star that the decision is ill-advised. He called for a roundtable involving the port management, the government and the union to “set things straight”.
The union has written to Manduku to ensure it is involved in talks concerning the port.
“The KNSL has no capacity to run such a facility. It could be for improvement, but as far as we are concerned, a shipping line cannot run a terminal effectively,” Sang said. Dock workers fear that the inability to run a container terminal will force the KNSL to outsource capacity, should it be given the mandate.
“This means they will likely hire a private company to run the container terminal,” the union boss said.
Hiring a private firm amounts to privatising it and it will mean significantly downsizing the workforce, he added.
“That’s why we are not in support of such a move until we sit down and know exactly what they want to do. We’re not exactly opposed to it but want to know what it is first.”