Mombasa Port News

Kenya Port Authority's new tug,  Mwokozi II, was delivered to her home port of Mombasa on January 10, 2022.The Mwokozi II is a custom design 42-meter, 120 tonne bollard pull RAstar 4200 salvage and harbor tug developed by Robert Allan Ltd., with particularly outstanding performance in maneuvering, seakeeping, and stability.The Turkish shipbuilder Med Marine was contracted to build the new tugboat at its group owned Eregli Shipyard. The keel was laid on March 23, 2020, and construction…

Port of Mombasa of Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) pilots has received Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) container vessel MSC Maxine  master one of largest container vessel to dock at the facility.The port has registered a new performance record of 1450 moves within an eight-hour shift in the container operations, said a press release."The record was set by MSC Maxine in her maiden call at the Port of Mombasa on Wednesday beating the previous record of container carrier Livorno of 1265 moves registered late June this year," it said.MSC Maxine, with a container capacity of 9,411 TEUs, the largest container carrier to dock at the Port, also recorded an average of 181 gross moves per hour to break Liberian registered Livorno's record of 140 gross moves per hour.

In a continued effort to provide our customers with reliable and efficient service, CMA CGM Group will upgrade its service offering connection India and Middle East to East Africa., said press release from the company.Starting 17th August 2018, the group will offer a new product to East Africa whilst combining NOURA 1 and NOURA 2 former rotations.Strengths of this new offer is one direct service serving 6 ports of call in East Africa range.Revised port coverage as follows: Khor Fakkan, Jebel Ali, Mogadishu, Longoni, Beira (1/2), Port Victoria, Khor Fakkan; Khor Fakkan, Jebel Ali, Mogadishu, Longoni, Nacala (1/2), Port Victoria, Khor…

The standard gauge rail (SGR) freight service will increase the number of daily trains on the Mombasa-Nairobi route in the next five months to facilitate faster movement of cargo between the port and the inland container depot (ICD) in Embakasi, reported the Nation. The report quoted China Communications Construction Company chairman, Lu Shan,  as saying that the trains will have increased to 28 by December. He added that currently, they are operating 12 freight trains on a daily basis. As of now, the ICD has capacity to handle 450,000 Twenty-Foot equivalent Units (TEUs) per year, up from its original design of 180,000 TEUs. It receives four trains daily, carrying 108 containers each.

Kenya's main port, Mombasa, handled 10.6 percent more cargo in the first nine months of this year, helped by an expansion of its handling capacity and a new railway system, the port’s management said on Monday. Activity in east Africa's biggest port is considered a measure of economic activity for the region. Mombasa handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The increased traffic comes despite prolonged tensions over an election in August which was nullified and then rerun in October. Mombasa handled 22.8 million tonnes of cargo between January and September compared with 20.6 million in the same period last year, Catherine Mturi, the port managing director, said.

Thirteen port and customs officials were charged on Wednesday with stealing cargo containers and aiding tax evasion on freight at Kenya's Mombasa port, part of a drive to clamp down on corruption and boost efficiency at the hub. Mombasa acts as a trade gateway for much of East Africa. But neighbouring countries have often complained about corruption and the slow processing of cargo. The port replaced its managing director and five other senior managers in February as part of a wider bid to streamline customs procedures.

The Kipevu Oil Terminal at Mombasa Port will be relocated early next year, to Dongo Kundu area, as a result of the ongoing capacity expansion program, the Kenya Ports Authority announced. The new oil terminal is expected to have a capacity to accommodate four vessels of up to 200,000 DWT. The project also involves building new cargo handling facilities with both subsea and land based pipelines and four berths capable of loading/discharging crude oil, HFO, DPK-aviation, AGO-Diesel and PMS-Petrol. The other element is the topside, whose initial implementation will be for three berths but layout will recognize the need for implementation of the fourth berth at a later date.

Container traffic through Kenya's biggest port grew by 7.5 percent in 2015 after new cargo-handling infrastructure was built, shortening the turnaround time for ships, port management said on Tuesday. The Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, the biggest in east Africa and the region's trade gateway, handles imports of fuel and consumer goods and exports of tea and coffee from landlocked neighbours, such as Uganda and South Sudan. Its traffic considered a measure for economic activity in east Africa. Acting managing director Catherine Muturi told a news conference in Mombasa that the port handled 26.7 million tonnes of cargo between January and December 2015, compared with 24.88 million tonnes handled during a similar period in 2014.

A washed-out road in Kenya has blocked the flow of goods from Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa for a second straight day, officials said on Wednesday, choking the main trade route into East Africa. Mombasa handles imports such as fuel and other vital goods for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Queues began forming at about 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) on Wednesday when heavy rains swept away a temporary road about 50km from Mombasa. The road was being used as a diversion while the main highway leading to the capital, Nairobi, was repaired. Police and truckers stuck on the road say the queues are now almost 50km long, with many trucks, busses and cars stranded far from towns and villages where they can purchase water and food.

Heavy rains near the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa have swept away a road and slowed transport to a trickle on the main trade route into east Africa, officials said on Wednesday. Mombasa port handles imports such as fuel and other vital goods for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Police officials reported tailbacks of more than 10 kilometres and said delays began at abound 10am local time when a temporary road about 50km from Mombasa was swept away. The road was being used as a diversion while the main highway leading to capital Nairobi was being repaired. "We have been stuck here for over six hours. We are not moving at all.

Shipping activity at Kenya's port of Mombasa, East Africa's biggest, rose by 11 percent in the first half of 2015 as vessel wait times fell, the national port authority said on Wednesday. Gichiri Ndua, Kenya Ports Authority managing director, said the performance reflected progress in the integration of east African countries to ease the flow of trade. The port, a major trade gateway to east Africa, handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kenya, which faces increasing competition from other countries like Tanzania and Djibouti in the bid to serve land-locked and rapidly-growing neighbours, said increasing port efficiency is central to its infrastructure plan.

Mombasa, Kenya port workers end strike and returned to work on Friday after being warned they could lose their jobs, reports Reuters. However the members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC-K) said protests over changes to their health care costs could resume next week and aims to push the government to revoke the higher deductions for its national health insurance scheme. Sylvan Mghanga, an official at the port's communications department, said workers had returned to work fearing they would lose their jobs. "The management has never made such an announcement before, so it shocked and scared everyone, and that is why they have returned," said Mghanga, referring to a Friday morning deadline for striking workers to resume duty or be fired.

The Kenya Ports Authority said on Thursday striking workers at the Mombasa port should resume work by Friday morning or lose their jobs, and that normal activities at East Africa's biggest port will resume July 6. The workers are disputing higher deductions for the government's national health insurance scheme, officials said. "Any employee who will not report or discharge his or her duties will be deemed to have forfeited their appointment," the authority said in a notice to workers announcing the deadline. Reporting by Joseph Akwiri

In its heyday, Bagamayo was a gateway to the heart of Africa for colonisers, with trade goods surging in from the Indian Ocean, and timber, ivory and countless slaves exported from the east coast harbour. Then Bagamoyo, which looks out towards the island of Zanzibar, fell on lean times for more than a century. Now Tanzania plans an $11 billion project to make it the region's biggest port and an engine of Africa's boom. The Chinese-backed project would dwarf Kenya's port at Mombasa, east Africa's trade gateway some 300 km (180 miles) to the north, and include an industrial zone and rail and road links to capitalise on growth in a region hoping to exploit new oil and gas finds.

Kenya signed a $270 million loan deal with Japan on Friday to help expand capacity at Mombasa port, a busy facility that is the main trade gateway to east Africa. The port handles fuel, consumer goods and other imports for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, as well as regional tea and coffee exports. Container traffic through the port reached about one million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2014, up 11.9 percent on a year earlier. The port management said it expected a 30 percent increase to 1.3 million TEUs in 2015. Officials said the loan would support the purchase of cargo handling equipment, help finance a brand new container terminal and aid construction of another terminal already being built.

Protesters in Kenya blocked truckers on the only highway from Mombasa port to the capital Nairobi on Friday, threatening to choke the main trade artery with much of east Africa. More than two hundred residents in Voi, a town located 142 km (89 miles) inland from Mombasa, halted traffic with burning tyres to demand jobs from a Chinese company contracted to build a section of a railway in the area. East Africa's largest economy is the world's biggest exporter of black tea and blockage of the road to the port could disrupt shipments. At least 90 percent of all cargo arriving at the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa is ferried to final destinations in Kenya and landlocked neighbours by road, with trucks the main mode of transport.

Proposals by a local authority to impose new taxes on cargo at Kenya's main port has drawn opposition from the government and shippers, saying it will hike import prices and make the east African trade hub less competitive. The government, keen to see off emerging competition from regional rivals, has been striving to improve efficiency at Mombasa port, the congested gateway that serves Kenya and landlocked states such as South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda. Customs reforms and other steps have cut transit times and costs, but government officials and shippers say such gains could be undermined if the local authority succeeds in imposing extra taxes using revenue-raising and other powers granted to Kenya's regions under a 2010 constitution.

Container traffic through Kenya's biggest port grew by 12.8 percent in the first six months of the year after new cargo handling infrastructure was built to shorten the turnaround time for ships. The Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, the biggest in east Africa and the region's trade gateway, handles fuel and consumer goods imports as well as exports of tea and coffee from landlocked neighbours such as Uganda and South Sudan. Gichiri Ndua, the port's managing director, said in a statement…

Kenya's ailing Mombasa port will undergo a radical overhaul to ensure its status as the shipping hub of East Africa, the new managing director of Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) said. Joseph Munene said he was aware that he had been given one of the toughest jobs in the country -- turning around a port almost destroyed by corruption and inefficiency. "My biggest challenge is to make the port profitable and to improve cash flows," he said. The appointment of Munene and new KPA chairman Jonathan Mturi, part of a private sector team drafted in to take over Kenya's parastatals by civil service head Richard Leakey, was welcomed by Kenyan industry.

The Standard has reported that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) secretariat has drafted a resolution to tackle piracy along the Somali coastline. The resolution to fight sea pirates, who pose a threat to shipping in the Indian Ocean will be tabled at the IMO bi-annual council meeting next Monday in London. Kenya will lead a delegation to the meeting where it will submit its concerns over the attacks off the Somali coast, which threaten to mar cruise tourism in the region. In the Kenyan delegation are Transport PS Dr Gerishon Ikiara and Kenya Ports Authority managing director, Brown Ondego. KPA Chief Operations Manager, Captain Twalib Khamis, said the attacks were a major concern to the country.

Maritime stakeholders in Mombasa have warned over stalled ferries at Likoni, Mombasa. They urged the government to check the condition of the vessels that dock at the Likoni channel to prevent a disaster. Stakeholders warned of the danger of collision between stalled ferries and ships, which use the Mombasa Port. Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) said it would be difficult for a loaded oil tanker to break or drop anchor to avoid hitting a stalled ferry. The Mtongwe disaster, Kenya’s worst marine accident, where over 200 passengers died, should serve as a warning and jolt the authorities into action to avert similar disasters. Some Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) boats sail at over 40 knots along the Likoni channel and any ferry breaking down midstream posed danger to passengers.

Security at Kenya’s ports is being upgraded at a cost of more than $11m. The World Bank-funded project includes the installation of an integrated security solution, involving an electronic access control system at all entrances. It will also see the fixing of an automatic perimeter intrusion detection system and a remote surveillance monitoring system or (CCTV). The recent inauguration of the Mombasa Port Search and Rescue Center was part of the project, according to AllAfrica.com. The center would be used to monitor the Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles coastlines and would be linked to two others in South and West Africa. The port is also in the process of implementing the International Safety Management (ISM) code.

EU NAVFOR can confirm that the Turkish flagged Bulk Carrier YASIN C, hijacked 7 of April approximately 250 Nautical Miles east of Mombasahas, has suddenly been released by pirates on the evening of 9 April.  It was reported from Task Force 508 that the pirates had left the ship and the Master was back in control. Due to some technical problems on board the ship she has been freed and is now being towed back to Mombasa by a ship from Mombasa Port Control.   The YASIN C, with deadweight of 36,318 tonnes has a crew of 25 Turkish. It is believed that all crew members are well. EU NAVFOR, who works closely with NATO and CMF in the area, continues to monitor the situation.