Ugandan cargo volumes through Mombasa port drop by 2.8 per cent

Cargo processed for Uganda at the Port of Mombasa dropped marginally last year but those headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo increased in the light cutthroat competition between regional ports.

Data from Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) indicates the volume of cargo to Uganda was 7,115,085 metric tons in 2023 compared to 7,319,408 metric tons in 2022, representing a drop of 2.8 per cent.

Uganda which has in recent past months threatened to use Dar es Salaam Port had a total transit market share of 71.5 per cent in 2022, but this dropped to 62.4 per cent last year.

South Sudan came second in transit cargo at the port as it registered 1,901,758 metric tons last year, up from 1,262,581 metric tons that the country registered in 2022.

In the latest data, South Sudan cargo grew by 639,177 metric tons, commanding a market share of 16.7 percent at the port last year compared to 12.3 percent in 2022.

DRC recorded 1,510,979 metric tons at the port last year compared to 962,888 metric tons in 2022.

The Central African country had an increase of 548,091 metric tons, representing a growth of 56.9 percent. Its transit market share at the port grew from 9.4 percent in 2022 to 13.3 percent.

Rwanda had a slight increase in cargo volume at the port last year. It had 520,201 metric tons in 2023 compared to 429,857 metric tons in 2022, representing a growth of 21 percent.

Data showed that the port handled 11,395,478 metric tons of transit cargo last year, up from 10,234,075 metric tons in 2022, representing a growth of 11.3 percent.

In the comprehensive KPA data, the port recorded throughput traffic of 35,963,114 metric tons last year compared to 33,879,542 metric tons in 2022, representing growth of 6.1 percent.

Non-container cargo recorded at the port last year stood at 17,846,671 metric tons compared to 18,096,686 metric tons handled in 2022, representing a drop of 1.4 percent.

However, the data shows there was a significant rise in containerised cargo of 18,116,443 metric tons at the port last year compared to 15,782,856 metric tons handled in 2022. This reflected a growth of 14.8 percent.

The port handled 28,440,759 metric tons of import cargo against 26,712,480 metric tons in 2022. This represented a growth of 6.5 percent.

Export cargo stood at 4,949,455 metric tons last year compared to 4,771,183 metric tons in 2022, representing an increase of 3.7 percent.

KPA Managing Director William Ruto said container traffic grew last year because the port has undergone tremendous transformation.

Captain Ruto said even transhipment traffic had increased significantly and was expected to register further growth.