• Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) management is undertaking huge infrastructure projects within the port of Mombasa, the Lamu Port, Shimoni Port and the Kisumu Port.
•Lamu Port’s berth number one and Kisumu Port’s Sh33 billion facelift are also awaiting President Uhuru Kenyatta’s official opening.
The ambitious expansion plan of 2012 has made the Port of Mombasa the biggest in East and Central Africa.
It is currently ranked fifth in Africa in terms of cargo volume after Port Said in Egypt, Durban in South Africa, Tanger Med in Morocco and Alexandria in Egypt.
The Kenya Ports Authority management is undertaking huge infrastructure projects within the Port of Mombasa, Lamu Port, Shimoni Port and the Kisumu Port.
Lamu Port’s berth Number 1 and Kisumu Port’s Sh33 billion facelift are also awaiting President Uhuru Kenyatta’s official opening.
In Mombasa, Phase II of the Second Container Terminal (CT2) is 40 per cent complete since construction began in February 2019.
Toyo Construction Co Ltd of Japan is undertaking Phase II of CT2.
In an earlier interview, KPA Managing Director Dr Daniel Manduku said completion of Phase II of the Second Container Terminal will increase Mombasa port's container handling capacity by more than one million Total Equivalent Units (TEUs).
Phase I of the Second Container Terminal, which was commissioned in 2016, can handle 550,000 TEUs, whereas Phase II can handle 450,000.
Last year, the Port of Mombasa handled 1.2 million TEUs and it aims to handle 1.4 million TEUs by the end of this year.
In September this year, the port already had handled 1.06 million TEUs (containers) compared to last year’s 957,568 TEUs within the same period — a 10.7 per cent increase.
“Going by our daily handling of 3,500 TEUs and 4,000 TEUs, simple arithmetic tells us that we might even surpass 1.4 million TEUs in 2019. We are optimistic that we shall surpass our target for this year," Manduku said.
According to KPA’s 30-year (2018-2047) Master Plan, Mombasa Port will be handling about 10 million containers annually within three decades.
Manduku said Mombasa Port has been growing steadily in cargo throughput and container traffic for the last decade.
“By the year 2027, we are looking to handle 2.9 million TEUs, 5.5 million TEUs in 2037 and 9.8 million TEUs in 2047,” Manduku said.
To boost Coast tourism, Mombasa port is also building a Sh350 million Cruise Ship Terminal at Berth Number 1 within the port.
The Cruise Ship Terminal will have an immigration centre, a hotel and accommodation facilities and other amenities. It is 95 per cent complete.
It is expected to be opened in December.
The terminal will allow the simultaneous berthing of two Oasis-class cruise ships, the world's largest.
South of Mombasa, the KPA management is developing the Sh30 billion Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone, which will have additional berths at Mombasa Port.
“We shall also expand and modernise infrastructure, specifically the construction of new berths to the west at the Port of Mombasa,” he said.
KPA is also developing an oil- handling facility by relocating Kipevu Oil Terminal to a more suitable location to allow for expansion.
Meantime, Lamu Port will have new berths for general cargo, liquid bulk and dry bulk.
The first Lamu berth has been completed. The first commercial vessel is expected to dock next month.
Manduku says trans-shipment business for Kenya has grown over the last few years.
This year, KPA had projected to 86,255 TEUs of transhipment cargo at Mombasa, but within the first nine months, it had already handled 153,327 TEUs.
“The Port of Mombasa has performed well in trans-shipment cargo. However, we are banking on Lamu Port to be the biggest trans-shipment port in the region,” Manduku said.
The Lamu port will have a capacity of 76 million tons by the year 2047.
Manduku said Lamu port has very attractive traffic regimes for shipping companies and aggressive marketing strategies to ensure it can compete with other ports of the world.
In Nairobi, Manduku said the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi was revamped and its capacity increased to 450,000 TEUs annually.
“Following construction and operationalisation of the SGR, the use of cargo trains has greatly increased traffic to the ICDN, it is recommended the facility’s capacity be expanded to one million TEUs annually,” he said.
The ort boss said container volumes ferried by the SGRareprojected to increase to 732,000 TEUs in 2022, 909,000 TEUs in 2027, 1.33 million TEUs in 2037 and 2.20 million TEUs in 2047.
'Plans are underway to put up other ICDs proposed to be near major economic and logistics centres and national borders ," Manduku said.
(Edited by V. Graham)