Port of Mombasa Gets Second Container Terminal
2016-03-10 20:07

Port of Mombasa Gets Second Container Terminal

The Port of Mombasa has boosted its container handling capacity by 50 percent following the completion of phase one of the mega second container terminal project. The new terminal was handed over to Kenya Ports Authority in February 2016.

Developed under the Mombasa Port Development Program (MPDP), phase one of the new terminal has an estimated capacity of 550,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) annually. On completion the second container terminal is hoped to hand the port of Mombasa a total additional capacity of 1.5 Million TEUs annually.

Phase one included the construction of two large berths No.20 and No.21 measuring 250m and 300m respectively and a small berth. Also under this phase was the procurement of two Ship to Shore gantries and four Rubber Tyred Gantries and construction of a container stacking yard on a 35 acre reclaimed area. The draft of the new terminal is minus 15m alongside the berths and this will allow berthing of fourth generation vessels of above 6000 TEU capacity. With these developments the port of Mombasa now joins the league of large container handling ports in Africa.

Also completed as supporting infrastructure is access roads and ongoing plans to construct a railway line that will be linked to the main line. The project makes one of the KPA major milestone project aimed at transforming Mombasa a maritime hub in the region. With the ever growing container and overall port cargo throughput in Mombasa, this new terminal will offer the much needed space to match the growth. KPA also looks forward to increasing its capacity to handle transshipment cargo for the neighboring ports which of late are struggling with serious congestion problems.

Meanwhile the second phase of the project is on course following the inking of the Ksh.24billion loan agreement between JICA and Kenya Ports Authority recently. The development is scheduled for completion in 2017. The third and last phase of project is expected to be completed by 2020. Once the entire project is completed it will make the Port of Mombasa the largest port in the region with about 2.5 million TEU capacity annually. The new container Terminal will create an additional 900 meters quay length to the current 840 meters.

The completion of the first phase has come at an optimum time when the Port of Mombasa is registering upward trends in cargo volumes. In 2015 the port posted a 6.3 per cent increase in container volumes after handling 1,076,188 TEUs compared to 1,012,002 TEUs handled in 2014. Total throughput recorded 26.732 million tons of cargo last year against 24.875 million tons handled in 2014 reflecting a growth of 7.5 per cent. A total of 22.676 million tons of cargo were imports while 3.534 million tons were export commodities.

Accordingly transit traffic to the port vast hinterland of East African region significantly increased from 7.199 million tons in 2014 to 7.667 million tons in 2015 reflecting an 8.2 per cent growth. Going by 2015 trends and statistics, almost all transit countries are increasingly using the port of Mombasa. Uganda continued to dominate the transit market share with her cargo through the Port grew by 8.2 per cent from 5.522 million tons in 2014 to 5.977 million tons in 2015. Rwanda registered the biggest growth of 23.7 per cent to record 291,924 tons in 2015 up from 235,912 tons in 2014. However South Sudan maintained her second biggest user status of the port with 702,531tons of cargo passing through Mombasa. This is despite her drop by 7.7 percent attributed to political unsteadiness that has ensued the young country.


Source: Kenya Ports Authority website

Source: Kenya Ports Authority website