After dredging, port focus shifts to facility upgrade

By Patrick Beja and Willis Oketch

After dredging of the Mombasa port was completed a month ago, focus is shifting to improvement of the port facility.

Already, the port officials have embarked on construction of berth number 19 and the upgrade of the second container terminal.

The Sh5 billion dredging project that was completed three months earlier saw the port widened and deepened to accommodate larger post-Panamax ships.

So far, vast container ships, Mv Jade and Mv Roberta, have called on the port immediately after the dredging exercise.

The port was dredged to a depth of minus 15m in the inner channel and 300m wide at its narrowest point.

But Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) officials now say their attention shifts to the construction of berth number 19, which is longer and tailored to accommodate bigger containerships.

The $66.7 million (about Sh5 billion) project is being developed to add 160m to the existing container terminal and bring the container area to 760m. This is sufficient to handle three medium size containerships of 235m each.

Congestion fears

The port infrastructure is being expanded amid fears by users that the entry of larger container ships could lead to renewed congestion problem occasionally experienced at the port whenever there is increase in cargo inflows.

China Roads and Bridges is undertaking the project, which is set to complete in next year. KPA corporate affairs manager Mr Bernard Osero said progress has already been made on construction of berth 19 that will see a yard of about 160,000 teus (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) created behind it.

In an interview, Osero said the existing container terminal stretches 600m over berths 16 to 18, just enough to handle three ships of a maximum length of 180m.

He said vessels now calling at the container terminal are 200m and longer and only two instead of three can berth at a time.

"Construction berth number 19 is now more urgent than ever before because in the last three years, longer containerships have been calling at the port," explained Osero.

Mr Osero said the Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) may be relocated after completion of berth number 19, as it cannot be sandwiched between the existing container terminal and the planned second container terminal.

The projects are part of the KPA master plan meant to modernise its facilities.

In a statement highlighted in its 2012/2013 KPA handbook, Managing Director Mr Gichiri Ndua is optimistic about continued growth in cargo volumes at the port.

He said the port attained 20 million metric tonnes last year, a growth he credited to improved economic environment in the region.

"Our forecasts of further growth in the coming years are anchored on the expected good rates of economic growth of the countries of East Africa and South Sudan," Ndua said.