Mombasa's 2nd terminal sees 60pc H1 growth

THE port of Mombasa's second and newest container terminal that began operations in 2016 handled 34,837 TEU in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 60 per cent.

The new facility which is the first phase of the port's development programme to be completed over three phases has an annual container handling capacity of 550,000 TEU, reported Kenya News Agency.



The programme envisages the construction of a 100-hectare container terminal with an annual capacity of 1.5 million TEU upon full build out, raising the port's total capacity to 2.6 million TEU.



A first-half performance report produced by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) shows that the port's monthly cargo volumes and efficiency indicators are also on the rise. The port handled 2,720,000-deadweight tonnes (dwt) of cargo in June, up 0.6 per cent compared to the same month last year.



The growth is attributed to an increase in dry bulk and containerised cargo which recorded increases of 6.8 per cent and 10.6 per cent respectively.



The port has witnessed a sharp increase in cargo volumes destined for local and regional markets with imports taking the lion share of the throughput at 83.6 per cent while exports registered 12.5 per cent. Transshipment cargo accounted for 3.6 per cent of the total traffic.



The report shows that the cumulative container traffic from January to June rose by 5.3 per cent with the port handling 614,625 TEU compared to 583,6661 TEU during the same period last year.



On service indicators, the performance report found that the average container dwell time was 3.4 days during the period under review compared to 3.8 days in 2017.



Commenting on the performance report, KPA's acting managing director Daniel Manduku said: 'Our performance indicators are showing an un-mistakable improvement. The indicators cover productivity and berth occupancy all of which have shown a distinct improvement.'