President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to inaugurate the KSh32 billion second container facility in Mombasa later this month, solidifying Kenya’s position as a regional hub.
The terminal, which is set to open in the coming weeks, will be able to handle an additional 450 twenty-foot containers, raising the total handling capacity to 1.7 million from the existing 1.42 million.
It’s part of the Mombasa Port Development Programme, which aims to make the city’s port more competitive than those in Dar es Salaam and Djibouti.
Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among the landlocked countries served by Mombasa Port.
“It will have three berths, each measuring 230, 320, and 350 meters in length. The larger berths would accommodate Panamax container ships with a deadweight tonnage of 20,000 deadweight tons and post Panamax vessels with a deadweight tonnage of 60,000, according to acting Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) managing director John Mwangemi.
According to the official, the port’s installed capacity maintains up with the constantly increasing quantities and resulting demand for services. By 2023, the Port of Mombasa is expected to handle approximately 1.7 million containers up from the current 1.4 million.
To improve efficiency and bulk handling activities at the new terminal, KPA has already purchased three multipurpose salvage tugboats and three ship-to-shore gantry cranes for a total cost of $28.9 million.
The project, which was started in September 2018 by Japan’s Toyo Construction Company, will result in a disagreement over the facility’s management in order to repay the debt.
One of the requirements for the Japanese government’s funding of the facility was that it be operated privately.
Mombasa Port, which serves the landlocked countries of Uganda, South Sudan, Eastern DRC, Burundi, and Rwanda, is a vital facility for the country’s foreign trade.