Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director Capt. William Ruto has attributed a significant portion of the recent 12% growth in containerized cargo at the Port of Mombasa to partnerships with TradeMark Africa ((TEA) and the private sector.
During a meeting with a delegation from the British High Commission led by the Head of the Economic Counsellor and Head of Prosperity, Mr. Daniel Wilcox, recently, the MD noted that improvements in Key Performance Indicators (KPI) were primarily a result of capacity expansions and the reduction of ship turnaround times.
He expressed gratitude towards TEA for their pivotal role in assisting the port in overcoming challenges both within the port premises and externally.
Capt. Ruto cited the expansion of Kipevu Road, supported by TEA, and the establishment of access gates 9 and 10 as initiatives that have contributed to reducing truck turnaround times.
He further emphasized the ongoing collaborative efforts to enhance the port’s environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.
Fresh morale among workers, new cargo handling equipment, and the removal of non-tariff barriers along the Northern Corridor have all worked together to turn the tide on the Mombasa Port’s transit business, which posted a record 12 percent growth in 2023. Ruto, according to employees, has been able to achieve this feat in just a year in office due to the experience he has gained out of the many years he has worked at the Mombasa Port in various capacities.
The Intergovernmental Steering Committee on Ease of Doing Business through the Port Reforms Working Group High-Level Consultative Forum made a raft of recommendations that have continued to cut down the cost of doing business at the Port of Mombasa and improve efficiency significantly. The reforms are expected to have far-reaching effects once they are fully implemented.
The conveners of the reforms forum last year were the Head of State, Dr. William Ruto, the Council of Governors Chairperson, Ms. Ann Waiguru, the then Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industry, Mr. Moses Kuria, and Roads and Transport CS, Mr. Kipchumba Murkomen and Salim Mvurya, CS in charge of Mining, Blue Economy, and Maritime Affairs.
Other high-level delegates were Benjamin Tayari, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Chairman, Mr. Anthony Mwaura, Kenya Revenue Authority Chairman, and Captain William Ruto.
In a report released in July 2023, the forum asked both the Government Partner Agencies (PGA) and the private sector to embrace a round-the-clock work culture, including the weekends, to ensure faster clearance of goods and improve cargo dwell time and ship turnaround, which has since been realized.
The number of weighbridges has been reduced. KPA MD last year asked the National Assembly Integration Committee for the reduction of weighbridges from nine to three.
“Weighing and documenting trucks at the port using Regional Electronic Cargo Trucking Systems (RECTS) will not only reduce truck turnaround but will also reduce cases of corruption and traffic snarl-ups along the highway,’ Ruto said.
“Once a truck is checked and certified with valid documents, it should be allowed to proceed to the next border exit points at Namanga, Malaba, or Busia unless the seal is tampered with. Bureaucracy at weighbridges discourages many transporters from using the port of Mombasa, but once we adopt technology, we can attract volumes as cargo will move faster than before.”
Shipping lines operating in Mombasa Port were granted a 9-day free period for the return of empty containers for local imports, 30 days for Uganda, and 15 days for Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan cargo. The ports of Dar Es Salaam, Durban, and Egypt granted more days.
“This makes the port of Mombasa non-competitive and discourages customers from using the facility since they incur demurrage charges due to the shorter free period by shipping lines taking into account the transit distance for the DRC and South Sudan,” the report said.
Uganda is the biggest transit market for Kenya, accounting for about 83.2 percent of transit cargo. South Sudan takes up 9.9 percent, while DR Congo, Tanzania, and Rwanda account for about 7.2 percent, 3.2 percent, and 2.4 percent, respectively.
KPA, according to Captain Ruto, is discussing with the Kenya Revenue Authority creating a geofence on a 15-kilometer stretch of road past the Taveta-Holili one-stop border post that would allow Kenya to use the new Voi-Taveta-Singida-Kobero link road to serve Burundi, Rwanda, and some parts of Tanzania instead of the longer Central Corridor Road that connects them to the port of Dar es Salaam.
KPA is also riding on liaison offices in Kampala, Kigali, and Bujumbura to market and facilitate import and export business through the Port of Mombasa, according to Ruto, with eyes now set on DR Congo.
“The Rwandan business community expresses confidence in KPA, pledging to increase the use of the northern transport corridor and the affiliated facilities, particularly the Port of Mombasa, for the movement of Rwanda-bound cargo,” Ruto said.
Immediately after he took office, the new MD, in a deliberate move to improve performance, reached out to employees to iron out labor-related issues that were slowly crippling and killing labour-force morale. For instance, last December, the government rewarded the Port of Mombasa workers for their remarkable performance in the years 2020–21 by giving them a one-month basic pay allowance. Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and Roads, Kipchumba Murkomen said that this was a move by the government to appreciate workers’ efforts towards making Mombasa Port a world-class facility of choice and the growth of the other ports.
“Owing to this great performance, the government has approved a bonus payment of a one-month basic salary to each employee as a gesture of appreciation and to motivate staff to strive for higher levels of performance in the future,” he said.
Data released by KPA recorded a performance of 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2023 compared with the 2022 performance of 1,449, 843 containers. This was the highest container throughput that the port has recorded since its inception.
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.
