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| KPA's MD Catherine Mturi-Wairi confers with the CEO, East Africa Shippers Council Gilbert Lang'at during a tour of Nairobi's ICD |
The Port of Mombasa has set out a path towards becoming a world-class regional hub under its Masterplan.
According to an analysis conducted by Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) of its 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, the port has achieved a number of milestones that have enhanced its attractiveness for global trade to the region.
During the period under review, the port Authority has implemented several initiatives to address capacity and efficiencies. The enhancement of capacity has been marked by key infrastructural investments and modernization of cargo handling equipment, which have catapulted the port to a regional pole position.
The Mombasa Port development programme is a key cog of the infrastructural development. The programme, which was to be implemented in three phases, envisaged the construction of a Container Terminal on a total area of 100 hectares and capacity to handle 1.5 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) per annum on completion – making the overall port capacity to over 2.6 million TEUs.
This new terminal is poised to provide an additional 900 meters of quay length and three (3) berths of 300meters each. The quay length is critical as it indicates the ability to accommodate modern large ships.
The first phase of the project has been operational since April 2016. The Ksh28 billion investment has an annual capacity of 550,000 TEUs; - a measure of cargo capacity - also comprises two berths, which are handling increased cargo traffic within the East Africa region. In 2017, the new terminal alone handled nearly 300,000 TEU’s.
The second phase of the project will kick off next month. Once phases 2 and 3 are complete, the total capacity of the Second Container Terminal will be 1.5 million TEUs, raising the Port’s total container handling capacity to 2.65million TEUs by 2025.
The recent capacity expansion including initial dredging of the port channel, berth construction, upgrading of equipment and ICT Systems has given the Port of Mombasa a competitive advantage. The Port can now accommodate bigger vessels with larger capacities hence offering competitive services occasioned by economies of scale.
The Port of Mombasa is currently the deepest in the East and Central African region and can accommodate panamax container ships of up to 8,000 TEUs. The shipping industry is shifting towards larger vessels. The Authority is also dredging the navigational and anchorage basins, and installing modern navigation aids to allow access of post panamax vessels. This has enabled the port to handle bigger vessels.
The Port of Mombasa serves over 33 Shipping Lines that call regularly and provides connectivity to over 80 seaports worldwide.
In August 2015, one of the largest ships MV Clemens Schulte docked at the port. The vessel, spanning a length of 255 meters and 37.5 meters wide, with a capacity of 5,466 TEUS offloaded 1,710 TEU’s and loaded 3,505 export containers. In the succeeding years (2016 and 2017), other large vessels namely; MV Ital Mattina and MV Ever Delight with a total length of 264 and 294 metres respectively, have since successfully docked at the port of Mombasa.
The implementation of the Strategy saw the growth of total throughput from 22.3 million in December 2013 to 30.3 million dead weight tonnage (DWT - measure of how much weight a ship can carry, not its weight).
Apart from capacity, the Port has also notched significant improvements in other key performance indicators. Ship Waiting Timehas reduced to 4.5 hours in December 2017, compared to 1 day in 2012.
Cargo Dwell Timehas almost halved to 3.5 days against 7.1 days in 2012. The average Ship Turnaround Timehas also reduced to 2.6 days against 4.4 days in 2012. These two performance indicators are already improving with the increasing cargo uptake via the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to the upgraded Inland Container Depot (ICD), and the improved road network hinterland.
Other projects outlined in the Master Plan to bolster Mombasa port position include the development of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Dongo Kundu. As part of the Vision 2030 the Government of Kenya committed to the development of the SEZ at Dongo Kundu (3,000 acres of land owned by the Authority) which will include a Freeport area.
The Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) is also being converted into a bigger oil terminal to better serve the vast oil reserves that are currently being explored in Kenya and the rest of the region.
The analysis of the port’s Five-year performance comes in the wake of 2016 to 2017 studyby PwC on Port development in Sub-Saharan Africa, which highlights some of the challenges, and port developments across the region.
The report also indicates an emergence of hub ports, which facilitate dominant volumes of global trade in and out of a region. The trend is gathering momentum but is constrained by lower volumes of cargo and global shipping routings that have not replicated the hub – and – spoke model commonly found in other parts of the world.
Whereas, the study postulates that the proximity of ports in the region will hinder the development of hub ports in the region, KPA’s view is that the development of many ports along is a fail-safe mechanism, which will bolster regional growth.
Commenting on the five-year review, KPA Managing Director Catherine Mturi-Wairi said; “We have experienced exponential growth on the back of major investments in infrastructure and improved operational efficiencies. We shall soon launch our next strategic plan which will focus on taking advantage of Mombasa and Lamu’s strategic location in connecting the world to the global market,”
Regarding the PwC report on competition between the regional ports, the KPA managing director said; “Whereas the Port of Mombasa has made giant strides, the proximity of other ports in the region is a boost to regional trade and is not a threat to the growth of port business.”
She added; “Some of the leading ports in the world especially in Europe and Asia are located in proximate distances to each other and this has enhanced trade and infrastructure developments in those regions.”
The authority will launch its 2018 - 2022 strategic plan in the next few weeks.
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