East Africa’s biggest port cargo revenue jumps by $200 million in only one month

The Port of Mombasa plans to increase the number of containers it handles to two million Twenty Foot Equipment units (TEUs) by 2022 and targets 1.3 million this year.
The increase in volume of cargo at port will result in a rise in revenue from Sh50 billion netted in last month to about Sh100 billion monthly.

East Africa’s biggest port recorded an additional increase in revenue of Sh20 billion in just one month alone.

Before major changes were initiated at the port of Mombasa to ensure efficiency which included the suspension of Kenya Ports Authority's first female managing director, Ms. Catherine Mturi Wairi and appointment of Daniel Manduku as the acting managing director, the port netted about Sh30 billion monthly in revenue.

In June however, the port recorded a total of Sh50 billion in revenue sourced from cargo clearance.

“In July alone, the total revenue generated from cargo clearance at the port was Sh50 billion, up from Sh30 billion. On average, KPA’s monthly revenue stands at Sh30 billion,” said Dr. Manduku.

In its port performance programmes released last week during a stakeholders round-table and cocktail on Vision 2030 at English Point Marina in Mombasa, delivery board chairman James Mwangi said the facility had recorded tremendous growth in container traffic and cargo volumes.

“In 2012, the port handled 900,000 TEUs and by the end of 2017 it had handled 1.2 million TEUs, an increase of about 32 per cent. Cargo volume in deadweight tonnes also increased from 21 million in 2012 to 30 million in the same period,” said Dr Mwangi.

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In a bid to improved cargo clearance which was threatening to grind operations at the East Africa’s biggest port, and which is thought to be one of the reasons which informed the decisions to suspend Ms. Wairi, KPA management unveiled a smart gate at Nairobi inland deport located at Embakasi that cuts cargo truck time from 15minutes to 30seconds.

“This development is in line with a raft measures being implemented by the Authority and our 2018-2022 strategic plan to enhance port efficiency and reduce pilferage of containers....,” Dr. Manduku said at the time.

Meanwhile, KPA has set itself an ambitious target of handling 800,000 more Twenty Foot Equipment units (TEUs) from the current 1.2 million TEUs it handled last year.

The increase in volume of cargo at port will result in a rise in revenue from Sh50 billion netted in last month to about Sh100 billion monthly.

In 2017, the port handled 30 million deadweight tones of cargo, up from 21 million in 2012.

Dr. Manduku is however upbeat that the volume will hit 45 million tones in the next four years to achieve the Sh100 billion revenue.

Some of the huge infrastructural projects KPA is undertaking include the ongoing construction of Lamu port, with Shimoni and Kisumu ports on the awaiting list.

KPA also announced last month that it had awarded a Rotterdam based company contract to build 11 new ports as it steps up effort for market dominance in cargo handling in Africa.