Taiwan-based shipping line launches weekly service to Mombasa

InterAsia Lines new service to meet rising demand for shipping between Asia and East Africa. [Courtesy]

A Taiwan-based shipping line InterAsia Lines, has introduced a new weekly service at the Port of Mombasa, strengthening maritime connectivity between India and the East Africa region.

The new service will operate a weekly vessel with a capacity between 2,000 and 2,500 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in partnership with South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), Singapore’s Pacific International Lines (PIL) and China’s COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited.

InterAsia Lines’ East Africa and Mozambique representative Eric Chen, made the announcement during a courtesy call on Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) chief executive officer captain William Ruto.

Chen attributed the new service to rising demand for shipping between Asia and East Africa, driven by increased trade volumes along the Asia–Africa route.

The service is expected to commence in mid-October this year. Chen further commended the ongoing infrastructure development and modernisation projects at the Ports of Mombasa.

Both Mombasa and Lamu ports have registered cargo growth in recent years, leading to the attraction of more shipping lines to the East Africa region.

They highlighted the strategic importance of the Port of Mombasa, which currently handles 2.1 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), making it the region's principal maritime gateway.

The port achieved a record cargo throughput of 45.45 million metric tonnes last year. This represented a 10.9 per cent increase from 40.99 million metric tonnes recorded in 2024.

The meeting reviewed progress in the implementation of the Advanced Cargo Declaration (ACD) system, which was designed to facilitate pre-arrival of cargo processing by enabling the submission and verification of cargo documentation before goods are loaded at the port of export.

The port that was commissioned in May 2021 got its cargo boom in 2025, and this year is signalling signs of growth, particularly if it is well equipped and connected with a developed hinterland infrastructure.

Data from KPA shows that Lamu port made a huge increase in cargo handled last year and part of this year.  Last year, the facility handled 799,161 metric tonnes, while it handled 1,002,282 metric tonnes this year.

In its first year of operation, Lamu port only handled 34,761, while the throughput dropped to a paltry 6,539 metric tonnes in 2022, 37,576 in 2023 and recorded 74,380 in 2024.