• On Tuesday, Mwangemi hosted a delegation from Saudi Ports Authority in Mombasa, where they discussed key areas of partnership between Saudi Arabia and Kenya.
• Mwangemi said the engagement was to accelerate connectivity and trade between Jeddah Islamic Port and the ports of Mombasa and Lamu.
Image: LABAN WALLOGA
The Kenya Ports Authority is keen to exploit untapped opportunities in the shipping industry in the Middle East, acting managing director John Mwangemi has said.
On Tuesday, Mwangemi hosted a delegation from Saudi Ports Authority in Mombasa, where they discussed key areas of partnership between Saudi Arabia and Kenya.
The Saudi Arabia delegation was led by Jeddah Islamic Port general director Majed Rafed.
Mwangemi said the engagement with Saudi Arabia officials was to accelerate connectivity and trade between Jeddah Islamic Port and the ports of Mombasa and Lamu.
“We are looking at ways on how to improve our partnership and trade between the two countries,” he said on the phone.
Mwangemi said the Port of Mombasa, which is the largest in the East and Central African region, has 22 berths and annual capacity to handle over 1.34 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
KPA also has a new Sh40 billion Kipevu Oil Terminal, which was constructed offshore at the Port of Mombasa, that has a capacity to handle at least four oil vessels at a time.
“With this new infrastructure in place. We need to find partners whom we can work with to expand our business. Jeddah Port is key as it connects to European markets and our port connects to the East and Central African region,” Mwangemi said.
He said the Lamu port, whose three berths are now complete and ready for operationalisation, is a critical facility in the transshipment business.
Since the operationalisation of the first berth at the Port of Lamu in May 2021 by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, the port has handled several transshipment cargo from Zanzibar, Tanzania to Middle East countries.
Mwangemi said the Jeddah Islamic Port in Saudi Arabia is a major hub and a gateway to the Middle East operating 62 berths that handle passengers, containers, general cargo, livestock, bulk grains and vehicles.
“Saudi Arabia and Middle East countries are among the biggest markets for livestock. We want to develop the Port of Lamu to have a livestock holding area, so that we are able to facilitate the livestock exportation from the East African region to the Middle East,” the KPA boss said.
Jeddah port, which is the largest in Saudi Arabia, has an annual capacity of seven million TEU’s, whereas the Port of Mombasa has a capacity of 1.3 million TEUs.
Jeddah Islamic Port is ranked 37 out of 100 top global ports, according to the Lloyd’s List 2021 of Top 100 ports.
The Saudi Arabia delegation also visited Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir.
Nassir said the strategic vision of Saudi Arabia Ports Authority to build a sustainable, dynamic maritime sector that reinforces the kingdom's status as a global logistics hub is in line with Mombasa’s own aspiration to become an African logistical hub.
The governor said they deliberated on a wide range of issues, including ways of deepening the relationship between the two port cities and modalities of stimulating an enhanced trade partnership that will see the economies of the two cities thrive.
“We agreed to cement this friendship with scholarships in the maritime sector to train and empower the youth of Mombasa sponsored by the Islamic Port through the Royal Saudi Embassy in Kenya,” Nassir said.
Edited by A.N