Calls for Lamu Port modernisation grow amid cargo growth

A photograph taken on May 20, 2021, shows the container ship Cap Carmel, owned by a Denmark-based shipping line and sailing under the flag of Singapore, docked at the berth of the Lamu Port on the inauguration day of the harbour's first berth. [AFP]

After a recent major lift from being a dormant facility for some years, stakeholders are pushing the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and other government agencies to prioritise the modernisation of Lamu Port.

The port has three deep and spacious berths to accommodate larger vessels and is Kenya's second commercial port, being positioned to serve Ethiopia and South Sudan, among other countries in the region.

The port that was commissioned in May 2021 got its cargo boom in 2025 and this year, signalling the signs of growth, particularly if it is well equipped and connected with a developed hinterland infrastructure.

Data from KPA shows that Lamu Port made a huge increase in cargo handled last year and part of this year. Last year, the facility handled 799,161 metric tonnes, while it handled 1,002,282 metric tonnes this year.

In its first year of operation, Lamu Port only handled 34,761 metric tonnes of cargo, while the throughput dropped to a paltry 6,539 metric tonnes in 2022 and 37,576 in 2023 and 74,380 in 2024.

A tour of the port by members of the Kenya Ships Agents Association (KSAA), led by Chairman Roger Dainty and Chief Executive Elijah Mbaru, has revealed that Lamu Port is on the rise but urgently requires critical infrastructure and equipment to be fully modernised.

According to the team, there is a need to have more equipment at the quay and yard of the three berths and to link the documentation processes to the main port of Mombasa.

“There is a need to have more equipment at the quay and yard; the documentation process needs to be integrated and synchronised with Mombasa and other ports, the horizontal infrastructure, for example, roads and rails, needs to be completed to tap into hinterland markets and upcountry so that shipping agents can enhance through bills of lading bookings, promoting Lamu.

“The auxiliary services, for example, warehouses and residential areas, need to be done to store cargo and accommodate workers, port/shipping agents and, finally, security and navigation aids need to be installed and beefed up,” explained Mbaru after the tour.

Lamu Port has three ship-to-shore gantry cranes, three harbour mobile cranes, two rubber-tyred gantry cranes, one tugboat, one pilot boat, one reach stacker, two forklifts, nine terminal tractors and one empty container handler.

The shipping lines account for 90 per cent of global trade by volume and 70 per cent by value, and shipping agents are the principal customers of the ports across the world.

Dainty commended the KPA team for arranging the engagement and also thanked members of KSAA for supporting the Lamu infrastructure.

Mbaru observed that global trade is shifting fast with disruption by geopolitics and regulatory requirements, hence the need for ports to modernise and be future-ready for the new genre of ships and, equally, the importance of connecting the ports to the hinterland by horizontal infrastructure such as roads and rails and also auxiliary services to support the ports. He noted that KPA/KSAA are symbiotic in relationships, and one cannot do without another.

Currently, the Lamu Port–Hindi–Bodhei–Ijara–Garissa Road (A10), the main road linking the port to the hinterland, has not been completed, hindering the efforts to open the region to trade through Lamu Port.

“Several sections have been completed, while others remain under construction.

Approximately 95km of the road on the Lamu and Garissa ends have already been paved. The other section of the Garissa-Isiolo 260km, work is also ongoing and the road is motorable, while for Isiolo-Moyale 505 km, the whole section has been tarmacked,” Mbaru stated.

He noted that the port is working to install more navigation guides and equipment plus beefing up 24-hour pilotage to ensure quick ship and equipment turnaround time.

KSAA observed that schedule integrity in shipping is critical and one port cannot afford to be a choke point in the way ports operate, as that compromises global trade.

Early this month, KPA Chief Executive Captain William Ruto announced that the state corporation had acquired a Sh400 million helicopter to fly its marine pilots from Mombasa to Lamu port to boost operations.

“We have acquired a helicopter to support pilotage service in Lamu Port. Pilots will be flown to Lamu in just 30 minutes. Most ports in the world use helicopters to fly their marine pilots. The chopper is being assembled and will start operation in the next one to two months,” Ruto had said.

According to Captain Ruto, it will take just 30 minutes to deliver the marine pilots to Lamu to guide ships in and out of the new commercial port. He said the chopper was being assembled in Nairobi and will be in Mombasa in the next one to two months.

Lamu Port has been a key facility in handling transshipment cargo and was recently used to decongest the port of Mombasa when the latter was experiencing a congest