KENYA MOMBASA'S PORT NOW CAN HANDLE PANAMAX VESSELS

The dredging project, which took 18 months to complete, was carried out by a Dutch company, Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors, at a cost of $62 million (Sh5.1 billion). 

 “The turning basin has also been dredged to a depth of 15 metres and widened to 500 metres, and the call by the two large ships is a clear indicator of some of the benefits set to be realised now that dredging has been completed,” said Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) corporate affairs manager Bernard Osero. 

Highlights: - 

The Likoni Channel, through which ships access the port, was initially 250 metres wide. After dredging, it is now over 300 metres wide. 

-   The turning basin, the point at which a vessel turns as it leaves the port, is now 600 metres wide and can be used by vessels that are 350 metres long. 

-The harbour, where the ships dock, has been dredged to a depth of 12.5 metres from the initial 10.4 metres, while the channel is now 15 metres deep, from 13.5 metres. 

According to KPA manager in charge of operations Khamis Twalib, the additional 1.5 metres is crucial for the port.

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Latest News: Mombasa Port cheers arrival of millionth container on board

Despite of the protests by the government stakeholders about the inhibited growth of transshipment trade at Mombasa port and the violence and problems in implementation of the Kilindini Waterfront Automated Terminal Operations System (kwatos). Mombasa port celebrates the arrival of the millionth container on board.

Last year, KPA resumed the trade after commissioning berth 19 and implementation of presidential directives that enhanced efficiency and created sufficient space at the port. Transshipment is the trade of off-loading a container from one ship at a port and loading it onto another ship to be further carried to the final port of discharge. Mombasa handles goods destined to other ports like ports of Madagascar, Somalia, Zanzibar, Maputo in Mozambique and Comoros.

Due to perennial congestion at the Dar es Salaam port, Tanzania also sometimes rely on Mombasa, where cargo is off-loaded and later shipped in small vessels when the situation improves Statistics provided by KPA, however, indicate shipping lines are still not keen to use Mombasa as a transshipment hub, saying some conditions placed by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on the trade are unattainable. 

Of 16 million tons of cargo traffic handled at the port of Mombasa in 2007, transshipment constituted about 480,000 tones or 3 per cent. In 2008 KPA stopped the handling of transshipment trade before resuming again in 2012 but even last year the trade constituted of less than 300,000 tones.

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