MOMBASA, KENYA: The Port of Mombasa started the year well with importation of clinker, an important ingredient for the manufacture of cement which is shipped in bulk emerging the leading import commodity in the New Year’s first week.
According to Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) weekly dispatch, 59,802 metric tonnes of clinker was shipped into the country.
Other commodities that come in the first week of the year included steel which registered 29,995 metric tonnes , bulk wheat which recorded 22,620 metric tonnes ,39, 824 metric tonnes stuffed in containers , 4,2262 metric tonnes of bulk sorghum and 1,560 metric tonnes of bulk gypsum.
In the meantime, evacuation of cargo containers by the Standard Gauge Rail (SGR) from the Port of Mombasa is seemingly gaining popularity hitting a record 5,515 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in the week ended January 2nd 2019.
''There was an increase of 2,349 TEUs or 74.14 percent by the rail transporter compared to 3,166 TEUS delivered by rail the previous week,'' KPA said.
During the week under review road transport hauled 5,811 TEUs recording an increase of 377 TEUs. Empty containers loaded onto vessels dominated exports registering 7,945 TEUs compared to 4769 TEUs empty.
A total of 11 container ships docked at the two Mombasa Container Terminals to record a ship average working time of three days while import container dwell time registered 3.89 days.
The Container Terminals, which form the busiest part of the port operations reported discharge of 13,517 TEUs from the vessels and loaded another 12,714 TEUs.
''Import population breakdown at the Port during the week revealed that 4,566 TEUs were locally bound while 5,235 TEUs were destined for the transit market. There was a remarkable growth of 1,372 TEUs in the transit market segment that recorded 3,863 TEUs in the previous week. The local market registered an increase of 663 TEUs,''KPA stated.
Uganda dominated transit market accounting for 4,189 TEUs which was an increase from 3,127 TEUs registered in the previous week.
Tanzania emerged second in the transit market having registered 342 TEUs followed by South Sudan with 295 TEUs, Democratic Republic of Congo with 253TEUs, Rwanda with 123 TEUs while Somalia and Burundi recorded 15 TEUs and 14 TEUs respectively.
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