By PATRICK BEJA
Mombasa, Kenya: The port of Mombasa has recorded a huge growth in cargo following the resurgence of the regions economies, officials have announced.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) management says that the port recorded 21.92 million metric tonnes last year compared to 19.95 million tonnes in the previous year.
This represented a 9.9 per cent growth in cargo volumes, according to KPA Managing Director, Gichiri Ndua, when he released the figures yesterday.
“The Port of Mombasa once again recorded a positive performance last year against odds of global economic volatility of 2011,” Ndua said.
The port, which handles mainly imports has saturated its annual cargo capacity of 20 million tonnes, and banks on transferring goods to private container freight station after being discharged from ships.
Government is currently constructing the second container terminal at a cost of Sh28 billion to create additional capacity of 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units.
Ground breaking
On December 5, last year, President Kibaki presided over the ground breaking of the project that is being undertaken by Japanese experts.
“The increase was attributed to improved efficiency assisted by continued investment in infrastructure development,” Ndua explained
Imports grew by 10.6 per cent, posting 18.73 million tons last year, from 16.9 million tons in 2011. This accounts for a dominant traffic share of 85.5 per cent of the total throughput reflecting a huge imbalance of trade.
