Kenya’s Mombasa Port will invest US$193 million to modernise four berths to handle both container cargo and goods not packed in containers, this website understands.
The port, built in 1895, is the main trade gateway for the Eastern Africa region, serving Kenya and seven neighbours, including Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda and South Sudan.
The decision to improve the port is as result of growing demand for imported cargo in the region, where most economies are growing by at least 5 percent per year, said Daniel Manduku, the managing director of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).
Exports make up just 15 percent of the cargo that goes through Mombasa every year, with a third of the total belonging to neighbouring countries, while Kenya, the region’s biggest economy, takes up the lion’s share.
Annual cargo traffic through the port is projected to jump to 47 million tonnes in 2025 from 32 million tonnes last year, Manduku said.
The volume of cargo handled is expected to rise to 34 million tonnes this year, including 1.4 million 20-foot containers. Popular imports include clinker for cement manufacturing, steel, fertiliser and grains.
The European Investment Bank and French development agency AFD have offered to finance the modernisation of the berths at commercial rates, Manduku said.
Mombasa port, ranked Africa’s fifth busiest according to the KPA after Morocco’s Tangier Med, Egypt’s Port Said, South Africa’s Durban and Nigeria’s Lagos, wants to rise to number three, Manduku said.
KPA is spending an additional Ksh39 billion to build a new oil terminal, to replace its existing facility that dates back to 1968.
China Communication Construction Co. is the contractor for the project, which will triple the port’s annual capacity for oil and liquid gas to 1 million tonnes.
Britain’s Tullow Oil and partners, including the Kenyan government, are expected to make a final investment decision on crude oil production from fields in the far northern county of Turkana next year.
Current investments by KPA are part of a Ksh310 billion ports investment programme, aimed at boosting annual capacity to 110 million tonnes by 2040, Manduku said.
