•The shipyard has a capacity to handle a 4000-tonne vessel with a length of 150 metres.
•The new facility will also offer employment to over 10,000 Kenyans, both directly and indirectly, according to the government.
Image: PSCU
Kenya is poised to become Africa’s biggest ship manufacturing country after the commissioning of the largest shipyard in East Africa at the Mtongwe Naval Base, Mombasa.
The shipyard, which has a capacity to handle a 4000-tonne vessel with a length of 150 metres, is the second government-owned facility in Kenya after the one at Kisumu Port.
The coast region has several privately-owned shipyards, which charge hundreds of millions of shillings to repair sea vessels.
The new shipyard at Mtongwe Navy, built in collaboration between the Kenyan government and its strategic partner from the Netherlands, Ms Damen Gorinchem, will serve both public and private commercial shipping needs.
It will design and build new vessels, undertake repairs among other specialized maritime services.
Apart from offering employment opportunities, the government is set to earn millions of revenues annually from the private and other nations’ vessels that will be repaired at the new Mtongwe facility.
The Kenya Defence Forces, which has 17 vessels, will also save billions of shillings annually that were spent on repair of vessels in Spain or Netherlands.
Approximately, Kenya will save Sh6.8 billion annually that is spent on servicing its marine hardware.
Already, Kenya Navy Ship MS Shupavu is already undergoing repair at the new facility that was launched on Friday.
The new facility will also offer employment to over 10,000 Kenyans, both directly and indirectly, according to the government.
Currently, 150 Kenyans have benefited directly from skills transfer from the project.
“In the next few years, Kenya is poised to become the biggest shipbuilding country. This industry will fully be occupied by our young men and women. They have the potential, but we have not given them a chance,” Uhuru said.
He was speaking after commissioning the new facility.
The Head of State was accompanied by ODM leader Raila Odinga, Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, Chief of Defence Forces General Robert Kibochi and Mombasa governor Hassan Joho.
It took the government four years, according to Uhuru, to actualize the project, which will help unlock the country’s immense ocean and blue economy potential.
“Kenya will truly become an industrialized country, a true-middle class country after the completion of this project, whose direct, indirect and induced impacts will create many jobs, generate diverse investment opportunities and raise revenue for the country,” he said.
To ensure that the Blue Economy is fully exploited, the President directed the maritime department and the Blue Economy agencies to formulate a comprehensive national training program that will produce at least 4,000 qualified seafarers annually.
He also directed for the setting up of an open ship register, ship repair and building incentives, a bunkering and chandelling package as well as the exploration of fiscal possibilities of zero rating taxation on imported fishing vessels.
“By doing so, it will be possible to unlock the enormous business potential that abounds within Kenya’s territorial waters and the coastal strip,” he said.
Uhuru also urged the coast counties to draw up strategies for strengthening commercial maritime activities such as fishing, tourism and transport.
“The key sub-sectors of the blue economy, which include maritime transport and logistics, fisheries, as well as ship-building and repair, represent low hanging fruits that must be exploited,” he said.