SGR moved the highest cargo volumes in July

SGR cargo train being loaded with a container at the Naivasha inland depot. [Antony Gitonga, Standard]

July registered the highest volumes of cargo transported on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) said the SGR operator Afristar moved 543,944 tonnes of cargo compared to 361,308 over the same period last year.

The month has also registered an improvement in the SGR cargo off-take from the Port of Mombasa, KRC said in an update.

"During the month, 267 trains from Mombasa moved 22, 394 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) on imports and 319,906 tonnes of conventional cargo of various products that include wheat, clinker, rice, sugar and steel for delivery to the two Inland Container Depots at Nairobi and Naivasha," the statement said.

"This is a huge improvement compared to the same period last year, when 175 trains moved 19,346 TEUs and 258,589 tonnes of conventional cargo."

KRC said the sustained performance was achieved due to close working relationship by government agencies that include Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Revenue Authority.

"Joint marketing on local and transit markets has been sustained, with the recent visit by key stakeholders from DRC, to Mombasa port and the two Inland Container Depots with impressive interaction feedback," said KRC Managing Director Philip Mainga.

The growth in tonnage has increased from 4,009,703 in the 2018-19 financial year to 5,666,375 in the 2021-22 financial year.

The second best performing month was February.