New data from Kenya Ports Authority shows that Uganda’s cargo through the Indian Ocean Port of Mombasa hit 4,218 TEUs, in the first week of the nullifying of the Kenyan presidential election, beating other landlocked countries in the region.
TEU stands for Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit which can be used to measure a ship’s cargo carrying capacity.
Uganda, according to the report was followed by South Sudan (698 TEUs), Rwanda (372) TEUs), DRC (302 TEUs), Somalia (42 TEUs), and Burundi (13 TEUs).
The Mombasa Port, the busiest on the east Africa coast, registered an 11.9 per cent growth in the cargo it handled in the first six months of this year, according to new Kenya Ports Authority data.
The port management attributed the growth to recent expansion activities, including the construction of a second container terminal last year.
It provides an additional cargo-handling capacity of 550,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually.
The report says the port handled 15 million tonnes of cargo between January and June compared with 13.4 million tonnes in the same period last year.
Despite election uncertainties that have previously seen landlocked countries take a more cautious approach while importing through the Mombasa port, KPA said none of the countries reduced their operations in the run-up to the August 8 polls.
That aside, Kenya and Tanzania have long competed to have the most important port in East Africa and their rivalry continues as they build much bigger ports targeting landlocked countries in the interior.
The Port of Mombasa and Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port are the traditional competitors. Kenya is now planning a larger new port at Lamu, while Tanzania is building Bagamoyo.
Both ports will be larger than any other port in sub-Saharan Africa if completed as planned. They will also be at the centre of much bigger developments, with industrial zones being laid out and intensive farming being proposed.
The Tanzania wants Bagamoyo to handle 20 million containers a year, which is 25 times larger than the port at Dar es Salaam. Kenya’s planned Lamu port is expected to be just as big.
