SDV TRANSAMI CONSTRUCTS A DRY PORT AT NAIROBI -KENYA

An SDV Transami inland container depot at Embakasi, Nairobi on the Left.













A dry port terminal being constructed by logistics company SDV Transami is set for completion next month, easing congestion at the Mombasa port and saving traders costs associated with delays. The Port of Mombasa is already under pressure from increased trade in Kenya and neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and the Great Lakes region.

“With Kenya’s growing economy, there is need for the Port of Mombasa to become more competitive by increasing its efficiency. The intention is to have the new terminal as a holding ground that will ease congestion there,” said Mr Tony Stenning, the SDV Transami regional managing director.

Since 2000, container traffic at the port has grown eight per cent annually, according to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). In 2007, the port handled 585,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (Teus) against an installed capacity of 250,000 Teus. Last year, the port handled over 620,000 Teus.

News of the completion of the Sh700 million terminal comes just weeks after the Kenya Ports Authority invited bids for the extension of berths at Mombasa port to enable the gateway handle larger vessels. Once the work is complete on berths 18 and 19, the port will simultaneously handle three ships measuring 760 metres, managing director Gichiri Ndua said.

Shipping firms have in the recent past been introducing surcharge due to delays at the port, which end up increasing the cost of doing business in Kenya. It is estimated that delays and corruption at the port add up to 30 per cent on consumer prices for imports. As a result, Tanzania has been selling the its facility in Dar es Salaam as an alternative route. A new measure to establish a dry port in Tororo, Uganda could also help ease congestion at the Port of Mombasa. The inland port will quicken cargo clearance at the Mombasa for goods bound for Uganda and the Great Lakes region.

“The port will significantly improve efficiency in cargo handling thereby reducing freight costs and demurrage occasioned by long delays,” said Mr Mohamed Jaffer of Great Lakes Ports.

HANJIN SHIPPING, UASC (UNITED ARAB SHIPPING COMPANY) INTRODUCE WEST AFRICAN SERVICE

Hanjin Shipping together with UASC (United Arab Shipping Company) have introduced a West Africa Service early this year connecting Africa with Europe ports of Valencia. Hanjin is Korea's largest and one of the world’s top ten container carriers that operates some 60 liner and tramper services around the globe transporting over 100 million tons of cargo annually. Its fleet consists of some 200 containerships, bulk and LNG carriers. Hanjin Shipping has a comprehensive global business network with 4 regional headquarters, 200 overseas branch offices, and 30 local corporations.
Named WAF (West Africa Service), this new service will be running between Valencia, Lagos, Cotonou, Tema and Abidjan with 2 of 1,700TEU class ships, 1 deployed by Hanjin Shipping and the other by UASC.

Hanjin Shipping comments that the introduction of WAF will not only enable the company to expand its presence in Africa, one of the world’s fastest growing markets, but also to better service quality by extending the scope of its service range. In addition, Hanjin Shipping reveals that they are planning to change the calling port from Valencia to Algeciras this coming April, in accordance with the opening of the company’s new dedicated terminal in the region, which is expected to become a new logistics hub in the Mediterranean and West African regions for Hanjin Shipping.

Meanwhile, Hanjin Shipping is continuing to seek opportunities to cooperate with partner carriers in service-launching and more in order to satisfy the various needs of its customers.

WAF (West Africa) Service

Port Rotation: Valencia → Lagos → Cotonou → Tema → Abidjan → Valencia

Vessel Deployed: 1,700TEU X 2 (HJS X 1, UASC X 1)

EVERGREEN, OOCL TO LAUNCH SOUTHEAST ASIA-MIDDLE EAST LINER SERVICE

New Asia Africa Container Lines are envisaged everyday as business is booming between Asia and Africa countries even as Evergreen Line, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) have agreed to operate a new joint Southeast Asia-India-Middle East liner service beginning on August 20, 2010. 

In The Meantime, AFRICAN SHIPPING LINE in co-ordination with various Lines has initiated a Feeder Service in the Indian Ocean AFRICA CONTAINER FEEDER LINE covering Mombasa, Zanzibar, Pemba, Dar Es Salaam, Mogadishu, Kismayo, Bosaaso, Djibouti, Berbera Ports,

The partners have agreed to operate the AGI service with five 2,700 TEU ships. The Evergreen vessel LT Genova will initiate the service from Laem Chabang departing on August 20. Evergreen, OOCL and Simatech have entered the new service to meet growing trade demand between ASEAN nations, India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. The AGI service will shorten transit times and enhance the shipping network in the region.The ASEAN-Gulf-ISC (AGI) service will have the following port rotation with a 35-day voyage.

Laem Chabang – Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas - Port Klang – Colombo – Jebel Ali – Karachi – Mundra – Colombo – Port Klang – Singapore – Laem Chabang

African Shipping Line at Mombasa-Kenya are Liner Port Agency, Container Agency, Project cargo in Eastern African Ports (Mombasa, Dar Es Salaam, Mogadishu, Djibouti, Berbera Ports, Please email: info@ashline.net or Call Mr. Ibrahim on +254-726-722-226

For more Info : http://www.africanshippingline.com

CHINA KEEN ON INVESTMENT, TRADE AND SHIPPING IN KENYA, TANZANIA & SOMALIA

China will finance the building of a second port in Kenya, a transport corridor connecting South Sudan and the upgrading of a railroad linking Kenya's Mombasa port and the Ugandan capital, a statement said Wednesday.

Kenya is a gateway to East Africa and a key focus of China's trade and economic cooperation with the African continent. The war-free country with stable political situation made Kenya an ideal regional base for Chinese investors to expand their business in Africa.

China has had a long involvement with Africa, going back to the early days of independence movements in the 1960s and before. But the current level and intent of China’s involvement is different. China’s principal interest in the continent is access to natural resources. But it is not its only interest. China’s economic interests are wider. China’s trade with Africa has risen sharply, from $10 billion in 2003 to $20 billion in 2004 and another 50 percent increase is expected in 2005. Chinese goods are flooding African markets, and – not so different from the United States – there has been growing concern in Africa about the effect on local industry. The primary focus is on textiles where the growth of Chinese exports constitutes a double whammy for Africa. Exports of Chinese textiles to Africa are undermining local African industry while the growth of Chinese exports to the United States is shutting down the promising growth of African exports in this field.

The road could provide a route to export Chinese oil from southern Sudan.



Recently, China's CNOOC (0883.HK) spudded a $26 million exploration well in northern Kenya on Wednesday that will be the deepest yet in a country that has searched in vain for commercial oil and gas deposits for decades.

The Boghal-1 well in Block 9 of the Anza Basin is the 32nd drilled in the east African nation, which hopes to capitalise on growing interest in the continent among explorers due to high oil prices and growing energy nationalism elsewhere.

MSC MV CHITRA COLLIDES WITH MV KHALIJIA 2 OFF MUMBAI

The Panamanian-registered container ship MSC Chitra that had Saturday collided with the MV-Khalijia-II, a St. Kitts registered ship, tilts in the Arabian Sea, close to Mumbai, India, Monday, Aug 9, 2010. Indian coast guard ships and helicopters are working to try and contain an oil spill from the dangerously tilting container ship following the collision near Mumbai, a spokesman for India's defense ministry said Monday.


MSC Chitra had collided with MV Khalijia-111, about 10 kms off the Mumbai coast. Oil was leaking from two of the 12 tanks of MSC Chitra which had got damaged due to the collision. The two tanks could together hold 879 tonnes of oil, sources in the Coast Guard said. The accident caused the vessel to run aground and list heavily to one side. The ship had 2,262 tonnes of oil and up to 400 tonnes of it had leaked into the Arabian sea, threatening marine life and ecology along the Mumbai coastline including in the mangroves.

TANZANIA PORTS TO IMPROVE SERVICES : TPA

The Dar-es-Salaam port is working on a major upgrade that could get rid of congestion, attract new business and position itself as “the harbour of choice” in the region.

This could see the Mombasa Port, also battling with congestion made worse by the post-election violence, face increased competition for business in the region.



A senior Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) says they have embarked on new strategies that would lead to increased container terminal capacity and the use of inland depots, optimimum use of the terminal capacity within the port and active participation of various stakeholders in the programmes to reduce dwell-time of cargo at the port.

Key long-term measures by the TPA include construction of multi-storey car park to leave space for container handling. This plan, according to Mr Rugaihuruza, is expected to be ready by the end of 2010.The port managers are also planning the construction of a new container terminal at Bagamoyo and two berths.

UGANDA COMISSIONS AN INLAND DRY PORT THROUGH KENYAN GREAT LAKES PORTS

A Kenyan-based, Great Lakes Ports Ltd is setting up a Sh9.6 billion ($120 million) dry port in Tororo, Uganda bordering Malaba in Kenya to cut delays witnessed at the congested Port of Mombasa.

Great Lakes Ports Ltd has an agreement with the Government of Uganda for a 35-year lease from commencement of full operations and 10 years exclusivity licence. The firm is also building a $50 million handling facility at Changamwe, Mombasa where all sea-borne Ugandan goods will be passed through and later fed to the Inland Port at Tororo.

Countries like Rwanda and Congo that use Uganda as a transport route for their imports will also have their goods cleared at Tororo. Lengthy delays, double charges and damages including total loss of cargo at Mombasa port are some of the issues that have been raised by importers.

The reason for delays, they say is bureaucracy, congestion and levying of tariffs due to delays by shipping lines.

It is estimated that the cost of transportation from Mombasa to Kampala is four times more expensive than from Singapore to Mombasa. Usually when traders, for example those from Uganda, which is landlocked, fail to clear their goods from Mombasa, they are auctioned, making them lose outrightly.

The Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Revenue Authority, on average, auction 600 containers per year. In money terms, it is about Sh12 billion. In terms of vehicles, an average of 900 units are auctioned annually.