Uganda cargo boosts trade volumes at Mombasa Port

The volume of cargo transiting via the Port of Mombasa rose 7.3 per cent in 2014 boosted by cargo destined for Uganda, Kenya Ports Authority announced.

Total transit traffic stood at 7.2 million tonnes against 6.7 million tonnes in 2013.

KPA has attributed the rise in transit cargo to increased handling of Ugandan consignments which rose by 610,000 tonnes from 4.9 million tonnes to 5.52 million tons in 2014. Uganda is leading in transit cargo through Mombasa at 74 per cent market share.

The port's total cargo throughput grew by 11.5 per cent to 24.875 million compared with 22.307 million tons handled previously.

Container traffic increased to a record 1.01 million

twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) against 894,000 handled in 2013.

South Sudan was the second highest transit traffic destination with 10.6 per cent share, despite a

decrease of 1.8 per cent to 761,336 tonnes against 775,148 in 2013.

Democratic Republic of Congo had 407,727 tonnes against 511,714 tonnes, a decrease of 20.3 per cent.

“The drop was mainly attributed to the import segment of the traffic which decreased by 107,907 tonnes or 22 per cent,” said KPA managing director Gichiri Ndua in a statement.

DRC accounted for 5.7 per cent share of the total transit cargo traffic, Rwanda 3.3, Tanzania 2.6 while Burundi held 1.1 per cent market share.

Rwanda transited a total of 235,912 tonnes against 240,099 tonnes, a marginal 1.7 per cent drop.

“We are hopeful that Rwanda having been among the first EAC countries to fully embrace the Single Customs Territory, its cargo volumes through the Port of Mombasa will improve,” said Ndua.

Tanzania had transit traffic of 187,848 tonnes against 192,475 tonnes while Burundi had 79,101 tonnes from 66,909 tonnes.

Domestic traffic had lion's share at 68.1 per cent, while transit and transshipment accounted for 28.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent of cargo respectively.

“The scenario implies that transshipment had the highest growth rate at 320.7 per cent,” said Ndua.

Vessels calling at the port rose from 1,768 to 1,832.

Average turnaround time per ship remained 3.5 days. Average container dwell time was 3.9 days from 4.9 days.

“The Port has greatly improved its performance and the lowest dwell time was recorded in the month of March 2014, at 3.2 days against 6.2 days in 2013,” Ndua noted.