Shipping activity at Mombasa port rebounds on increased regional traffic

Transshipment traffic (shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another) at the Port of Mombasa has bounced back strongly this year.

This is bolstered by improved performance in the fourth quarter of last year and steady growth outlook for January.

Comparatively, transshipment traffic by PIL (K) Shipping Line Vessels registered 8,106 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last month up from 7,729 TEUs in November.

A report by the Kenya Ports Authority’s corporate affairs department yesterday, showed early indications of growth in the transshipment segment.

This follows sharp increase in cargo vessels calling at the port during this period. Ten vessels were expected to dock by last evening.

A container operations report for the week ending January 20, 2021, indicated a ship working time of 3.19 days while import container dwell-time recorded 4.69 days.

Patrick Makau, the acting head of container operations, noted that the port has registered increased cargo volumes handled.

“We are looking forward to posting improved performance this year now that business is slowly returning to normal,” Makau added.

Container deliveries

A spot check revealed that a total of 13,057 TEUs (full and empty) were expected to be discharged while another 13,069 TEUs were to be loaded for export.

Container deliveries by road transport registered 6,324 TEUs compared to 5,024 TEUs by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

Import data breakdown revealed 5,457 TEUs transit bound compared to 4,066 TEUs for local destinations.

Uganda-bound traffic recorded 4,758 TEUs accounting for 87.2 per cent. DRC-bound cargo came in second with 239 TEUs followed by South Sudan with 219 TEUs.

Other transit destinations were Rwanda (126TEUs), Tanzania (103 TEUs) with Somalia and Burundi accounting for nine TEUs and three TEUs, respectively.

Makau said the impressive performance trend recorded in 2019 was curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected businesses across the globe last year.

Transshipment segment posted a total of 211,604 TEU’s in 2019 compared to 121,577 TEU’s in 2018 representing a growth of 70 per cent.

The performance later slumped to 175,827 TEU’s in 2020.