Survey: Bureaucracy, poor technology slowing East African port operations

The survey noted heavy traffic between the Mombasa Port exit gates and Mariakani causes up to six hours' delay. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

MOMBASA: Poor technology and government bureaucracy have been cited as the main factors hampering cargo operations at East African ports.

According to the 2015 East Africa Logistic Performance Survey, close to 31 per cent of the surveyed respondents feel that Government procedures are the biggest contributors to prolonged delays at the ports.

About 25 per cent of those polled attributed the slowness to network and challenges in adoption mechanisms of Information Communication Technology, a factor that was ranked second, with others blaming multiple agencies at the port.

"Some 13 per cent of the respondents perceived the presence of too many Government agencies and insufficient or faulty port infrastructure as the biggest contributor to the lengthy dwell time," read in part the survey.

The survey sponsored by Shippers Council of East Africa (SCEA) interrogated 93 stakeholders in the cargo shipping business across the region in an attempt to measure the efficiency of road freight transport services in the region linking the ports.

These included turnaround times (the average time it takes for truck to leave the port, deliver cargo to designated destinations within the EAC and return to the port), road conditions, weighbridges, checkpoints and traffic congestion within port cities. These. It notes, are some of the factors that are major contributors to slow turnaround times.

"For example, in Mombasa, heavy traffic between the port exit gates and Mariakani causes a delay of up to six hours sometimes, a stretch that would ordinarily take 30 minutes to go through," indicated the survey.

The Government in August 2015 announced the construction of a Sh22 billion superhighway in the Northern Corridor between Mombasa and Mariakani Weighbridge. This is expected to hasten movement of persons and goods from Mombasa Island.

Close to 54 per cent of the respondents noted that improvement of clearance processes at the port would greatly enhance truck turnaround. Twenty-three per cent noted infrastructural development as a key area that will enhance the turnaround time for cargo trucks, the report recommended.

Both Kenya and Tanzania are undertaking multi-billion infrastructure projects not only to improve the services but increase the capacities of their ports.

In October last year, Tanzania initiated construction of a Sh1.1 trillion port in Bagamoyo. Its capacity is projected at 20 million containers compared to Mombasa current capacity of 600,000 and Dar es Salaam 500,000.

But once the Sh2.5 trillion Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transit Corridor (Lapsset) project is complete, Kenya is set to benefit fully from trade as the project will have connected all countries in the Northern Corridor.