Transport

Mombasa port performance hits new record

port

A ship arrives at Mombasa Port. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Port of Mombasa has registered a new performance record of more than 6.24 million metric tonnes throughput in the month of October with containerised cargo taking the largest share of the total cargo handled in the month of September and October this year.

Last month, the port recorded 6,245,960 metric tonnes with goods handled in the week of 17th-23rd recording 3,269,508 metric tonnes of total cargo at the port.

In the same week, the port received 35 vessels that discharged and loaded containerised cargo, while 24 bulk cargo and 21 general cargo vessels were received during the same time.

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) weekly report for the month between September and early November indicates that for the last three weeks of October, the port registered the highest number of throughput of more than 1 million tonnes weekly.

The positive performance has been attributed to improved efficiencies at the port with increase of crane moves per second contributing to the easy movement of cargo, thus reducing cargo dwell time.

Improved cargo dwell time is important as it frees up container yard space in the port therefore reducing congestion and increasing port's productivity and profitability.

In the KPA’s two-month report, volume of containerised cargo continued to increase significantly with officials attributing it to security and easy movement of the consignment compared to non-containerized cargo.

“Most of the importers are preferring to use container while transporting their cargo due to security features and it is easy to handle,” said KPA head of container operations Edward Opiyo in an earlier interview.

In the report, in the October week between 17th and 23rd October, KPA dispatched a total of 49 Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) freight trains to carry the cargo in the week where it hit the over 3 million metric tonnes throughput compared to an average of 35 trains in the previous weeks.