Beehive of activity in Lamu as second batch of refinery equipment arrives

The horns blew loudly at the Lamu Port, once dismissed as a white elephant in the mangroves, as a second batch of over 154 assorted construction equipment for the Dangote Oil Refinery arrived, just weeks after the maiden vessel, MV Da Yang Bai He, delivered 2,930 metric tonnes of heavy machinery on 26th September 2026.

This second delivery, Kenya Ports Authority KPA said, underscores Lamu Port's strategic role within the LAPSSET Corridor and its capacity to support large-scale regional investment, as each shipment strengthens Kenya's position as a premier trade and logistics gateway in East Africa.

The first call in September was symbolic: KPA Managing Director Captain William Ruto received Captain Wang Shengli and presented a certificate of first call and a plaque to mark the arrival of MV Da Yang Bai from China at Berth 3, complete with Goma la Lamu cultural dances, and that vessel, 190 metres long, proved the port's ability to handle ultra-large project cargo.

This second batch, with over 154 units including excavators, bulldozers, heavy-duty cranes, piling rigs, compactors and auxiliary plant, is commercial proof.

It follows a direct promise made at the groundbreaking ceremony on September 30, 2026, when Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote himself announced, “About 110 pieces of equipment are already on site, with about 400 more expected to arrive within the next 60 days."

President William Ruto, alongside Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed, Benin's president and Togo's leader, and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, presided over that historic groundbreaking at mainland Hindi-Magogoni, Lamu.

The project, officially the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals SEZ, is valued at $16-17 billion (about KSh2.2 trillion), backed by Dangote Industries and Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), with Engineers India Limited (EIL) awarded a $450 million EPCM contract.

Designed for 700,000 barrels per day, it will be the largest refinery in East Africa and second largest in Africa after Dangote's Lekki refinery in Nigeria, eclipsing Kenya's former 120,000 bpd KPRL, which shut down refining in 2013.

It will also include a 1,000 MW power plant (500 MW to the national grid), polypropylene and base oil units, fertiliser and chemical manufacturing.

Captain Ruto was blunt about what the second arrival means for shipping, saying, "The arrival of this vessel is very critical and shows the government's commitment to ensuring this project succeeds. It will be a game changer for the entire region."

Lamu Port General Manager Captain Abdulaziz Mzee added, "The Dangote refinery will heavily boost business by forcing a continuous stream of Very Large Crude Carriers and cargo ships to dock, unload crude oil, and reload refined products. That business vessel call-in will increase, and that means revenue will be streaming as well."

For LAPSSET, this is the anchor cargo it has waited for since 2012, as the $20+ billion Corridor was conceived to link Lamu to South Sudan at Nadapal and Ethiopia, with a highway, standard-gauge railway, crude and product pipelines, and a resort city.

For 14 years, cargo volumes were thin, and now, the refinery creates permanent demand: crude in, products out, equipment in, and jobs out.

The refinery will process crude from Lokichar in Turkana (326 million barrels recoverable; drilling rig MV Transit Sedanka already arrived in Mombasa with a 1,500-horsepower GW70 rig), plus Uganda's Albertine Graben (250,000 bpd), South Sudan (350,000 bpd), and international sources.

Its products, petrol, diesel, jet fuel, and LPG, will supply eight countries, namely Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, and Tanzania, directly competing with the EACOP route to Tanga.

The economics are transformative, and KPA is already handling simultaneous project cargo: Lamu for the refinery, Mombasa for Turkana drilling.

KPA says it remains committed to delivering a transformative Corridor that drives jobs, trade, and prosperity.

Dangote projects 60,000 direct and indirect jobs at peak construction, a training school for 1,000 Lamu youth, and 40 months to commissioning by early 2030.

Logistics-wise, the second batch arrival proves three things for global shippers: Berths 3 and 1 at Lamu can handle 190 m+ bulk carriers with heavy lifts, KPA's marine and cargo operations can turn around project cargo within international standards, and the LAPSSET highway can move abnormal loads to the site.

There are still hurdles, as a Malindi Environment and Land Court case by 133 residents of Magogoni and Chandavai over compensation and ownership of the 7,000-10,000-acre site remains active, with the next mention on November 24, though groundbreaking was not stopped.

But on the quay at Kililana, the cranes are moving; the first batch was a promise, and the second batch of 154 machines is progressing.

For Lamu Port, from a strategic outpost to a bustling transhipment hub handling mega-ships and now mega-refinery cargo, the transformation is no longer in PowerPoint; it is on the berth.