KPA to expand cargo handling capacity ahead of import boom

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) will boost cargo handling capacity at the Port of Mombasa as the region anticipates a rise in cargo volumes.

KPA Managing Director Gichiri Ndua revealed plans to construct and equip the four berths which will provide an additional 600,000 Twenty Equivalent Units (Teus), a measurement of container capacity.

KPA is also constructing the $900 million second container terminal at the port which will provide an additional capacity of 1.5 TEUs. Currently, the port has the capacity to handle 1.1 million Teus.

“Increasingly, the container business is taking centre stage as a more preferred mode of ship transport. At the Port of Mombasa our strategy is to focus on growing this segment.”

“In order to create additional container handling capacity, the authority considers the conversion of current conventional cargo berths 11-14, constructed between 1956 and 1959 into modern berths,” said Ndua yesterday.

Shipping & Logistics (EA) Ltd managing director Sylvester Kututa said expansion of the Suez Canal and Panamal Canal would create efficiency along the sea trade along Africa’s eastern seaboard trade and Mombasa, like other ports, should expand their capacities.

“Volume of cargo to Mombasa will definitely be on the rise. The expansion of the Suez Canal will lead to more traffic passing which is a good thing but our concern about the canal has been the rates charged there,” said Kututa. He said cargo volumes to Mombasa will increase by 12 per cent and he also lauded the ongoing huge infrastructure expansion at the port of Mombasa.

East African Ports are bracing for increased cargo volumes following the expansion of Suez Canal in Egypt creating space for two ships to use the channel at the same time. Some experts says sea trade along Africa’s eastern seaboard which include Mombasa would increase because of the expansion of Suez Canal on the waterfront in Ismailia, Egypt. Other however say the expansion will not have any impact.

“Mombasa is a feeder port for port Salala and Dubai. Let us say it will create efficiency in terms of the time ships took to pass but in terms of cargo to Mombasa I doubt,” said Sternly Chai a maritime consultant in Mombasa. KPA has already kicked off the process to identify a concessionaire who will operate the first phase of the second container terminal set for completion in February 29, next year.