Transshipment container traffic at the port of Mombasa has recorded a sharp increase, buoyed by a strong performance in the first half of 2024, raising Kenya’s hopes of consolidating its grip as a preferred choice for the region’s small islands.
The port of Mombasa handled 227,135 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) transshipment cargo in the last six months, compared to 91,750 TEUs in the corresponding period in 2023. This increase reflects the gains made from the ongoing reforms involving lodging documents required by customs, acquisition of new equipment, and improved ship waiting time and turnaround that have made Mombasa Port more attractive than Dar es Port in the recent past. Djibouti Port, Mombasa’s other competitor, has also been experiencing congestion recently, with most Ocean careers avoiding her due to the ongoing Houthi-led attacks on Ships.
The operational challenges that faced Dar es Salaam port, which has been undertaking expansion projects in recent years, saw the port experience serious congestion late last year and early this year in a move that saw shipping lines drop huge volumes of cargo at Mombasa for transshipment. In January alone this year, Mombasa port handled 43,882 TEUs compared to 13,958 TEUs in the same month last year.
According to Mr. Elijah Mbaru, the Chief Executive Officer Designate at the Kenya Ships Agents Association (KSAA), the milestones undertaken by Shipping Lines in marketing Mombasa Port as a transshipment hub have borne fruits. Additionally, the numerous improvements in Documentation and physical operation amongst government bodies including the allocation of stacking yards, and transshipment desk at KPA, among others, have also contributed to these achievements. However, Mbaru said, there are still a lot of changes that are pending in the part of Kenya Revenue Authority documentation and physical operations inter alia eradication of the need to use a clearing agent, eradication of bonds, and immediate release of the cargo
This was part of the reforms that came from the recommendations of an inter-agency task force, that included the Kenya Ships Agent Association, Kenya Ports Authority, and Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA).
In an ideal situation, according to Mbaru, Kenyan authorities are only supposed to approve the ship manifests lodged by the shipping lines and use that as a release and operational tool without the involvement of third-party Vendors like the clearing agents, which is an additional cost to the Ocean Careers.
According to global standards, however, shipping lines, are only required to give notification of the ships that will carry the transshipment containers from the ports to the destination. Simplified procedures have seen ports such as Singapore and Salalah in Oman handle over 90 per cent of their cargo volumes as transshipment.
KPA has also introduced a Fixed Berthing Window, by allocating shipping lines scheduled timelines to dock and offload cargo which ocean carriers have now aligned to reducing waiting time and improving ship turnaround, Mbaru said. Waiting time has been reduced to a day and for the first time, the port has at times operated without a single waiter.
“With minimal documentation and proper physical handling of the cargo we are currently witnessing, Mombasa Port is becoming an attractive destination to the shipping lines handling transshipment cargo,” Mbaru said.
KPA has now semi-automated cargo handling operations. In 2021, Kenya launched the Kenya Maritime Single Window System. International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) FAL Convention is the anchor framework for the creation of a single window in the maritime sector. It mandates ships and ports to exchange documents and data electronically. Licensed shipping lines and agents operating in Kenya are mandated to use the maritime single window to electronically prepare and submit vessel pre-arrival and pre-departure declarations to the government agencies at the Port of Mombasa.
Construction of berth 22 at the Second Container Terminal, with plans to proceed with berth number 23 underway, has significantly increased the yard space at the Mombasa port for storing and handling containers. The new terminal has created an additional 1.2 million TEUs. Utilization of the port yard’s capacity currently stands at less than 50 percent creating room for extra cargo. KPA has also acquired new cargo handling equipment, which has improved productivity by 40 percent.
Lamu, which became operational in 2020 also has the potential of becoming the biggest competitor to Salalah Port in Oman and the Port of Durban in South Africa in the transshipment business. Mombasa is also better placed than Durban to handle transshipments from Europe, China, and Singapore, all major world exporting countries; smaller vessels can be used to move cargo from the port of Mombasa to others on the Southern African coast.
Lamu Port could also attract transshipment cargo for Tanzania, Mombasa, Somalia, South Sudan and the Indian Oceans Islands of Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, Pemba, Mutsamudu,Beira, Port Louis and Tamatave among others.
This article was published by Githua Kihara, an editorial consultant for FEAFFA’s Freight Logistics Magazine. For any inquiries, please contact us via email at editorial@feaffa.com or freightlogistics@feaffa.com, or reach out to Andrew Onionga directly at onionga@feaffa.com / +254733780240.
