By Willis Oketch
Zambia will resume exporting copper through the port of Mombasa. This is because Dar es Salaam Port and Walvis Bay Port in Namibia cannot cope with increased volumes of the mineral from the country.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Chief Operations Manager Joseph Atonga said a team from Zambia has expressed intention of using Mombasa as the third outlet of the mineral.
The first export route is Dar es Salaam and the port of Walvis Bay is the second outlet.
"We met a team from Zambia at the port last week for a fact-finding mission," said Atonga.
Mr Atonga revealed that KPA management has subsequently asked the team to lay out the export programme, including the volume of minerals they wanted handled through Mombasa.
"We are ready for the business, but they have to give us proposals of the volume they want us to handle either per week or monthly," said Atonga.
The request comes in the wake of increased demand for copper in the world market making prices go up.
Boost trade
Zambia used to export the cargo through Mombasa port 35 years ago before the collapse of the original East Africa Community trading bloc in 1978. The exportation of copper was stopped following sharp political differences between the then Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Kenyan leaders.
This was because Tanzania promoted the politics of communism while Kenya was a capitalist economy. However, after the closure, several mining companies in Zambia collapsed because of bad world market price. Atonga said the corporation would use the G section of the port for the copper export.
"We will set aside a small corner at G section to handle the cargo," he said. The official said the size of the section would depend on the volume of minerals to be exported.
Stakeholders in the shipping industry welcomed the new move, saying it would boost trade through the port of Mombasa.
Atonga described the new development as a good thing for Mombasa port since it will increase revenue collection and the percentage of exports.
