Kenya’s port of Mombasa will spend Ksh 20 billion to modernise four berths to handle both container cargo and goods not packed in containers.
Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director Daniel Manduku told The Reuters that the investment has been attributed to the growing demand for imported cargo in the East African region will be financed by the European Investment Bank and French development agency AFD.
“We think it is something we should consider, as opposed to normal commercial bank loans,” he said, adding that work will start in mid-2020.
The Port of Mombasa which was built in 1895 is the main trade gateway for the Eastern Africa region, serving among others Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
The Mombasa Port Development program is currently working on phase II which entails the 2nd container terminal. Once complete it is expected to increase the port’s capacity by an additional 450,000 TEUs.
https://twitter.com/MandukuKPA/status/1186856578475069441
Manduku said developments at the port have boosted our performance with container traffic growing from 894,000 TEUs to 1.1 Million TEUs as of 2017. During the same year we handled a total throughput of 30.05 million tons up from 27.36 Million Tons in 2016 marking a 10.9% growth.
The Port of Mombasa is ranked Africa’s fifth busiest port after Morocco’s Tangier Med, Egypt’s Port Said, South Africa’s Durban and Nigeria’s Lagos.
