Money Markets
A section of Mombasa port. Full implementation of the performance
charter is expected to improve efficiency at the facility. file
By Chris Kiptoo
In Summary
- The reality however is that while East Africa is the second fastest growing region in the world economically, it is the second most expensive region to do business.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is this morning expected to
mark yet another milestone in the journey to making Mombasa a world
class port with the launch of the performance charter meant to put all
processes at East Africa’s gateway on a measurable scale.
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This is the culmination of recent efforts to improve
services at the facility that is the key entry point for Kenya and East
Africa. The Mombasa port is also the key intermodal point for road and
rail transport along the Northern Corridor that connects Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi Southern Sudan and Eastern DRC markets.
Its strategic location is a key factor in the
region’s growth and is today one of the busiest ports along the Indian
Ocean coastline.
In the recent years, various projects and measures
have been undertaken to improve port capacity and efficiency over the
past few years.
Billions of shillings have been spent on the
dredging of the port to a depth of 15 metres to accommodate large
Post-Panamax vessels, construction of Berth 19 with a quay length of
240m extending the total quay length to 840m.
There is also the ongoing construction of the
second Container Terminal with a capacity to handle 1.2 million TEUs
annually once completed and, Enhanced Port Security through the
Integrated Security System with the support of the World Bank.
The ongoing infrastructure capacity enhancements
are highly encouraging and are bound to ensure that the installed
capacity at the port keeps up with the constant growing volumes and
associated demand for services.
Containerised traffic passing through the port is
expected to continue growing at the rate of 10 per cent per annum and
all other traffic to grow at 5.5 per cent per annum.
Port throughput is forecast to stand at 44.03
million tonnes by 2025. Twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) containers
will increase from 903,000 TEU in 2012 to 2.5 million TEU in 2025.
The reality however is that while East Africa is
the second fastest growing region in the world economically, it is the
second most expensive region to do business. This is what the latest
initiatives are meant to change.
Port Community Charter: Past attempts to address
some of the challenges that the port has experienced over the past four
decades have focused on KPA as an institution and wrongly excluded the
multiplicity of statutory bodies as well as the private sector players
who are an integral part of trade facilitation.
Today’s launch of the charter is the culmination of
one-and-a-half years of intense and extensive consultations among
stakeholders, including government agencies, business, civil society
organisations, and the Coastal communities.
The charter has four objectives that seek to
establish a permanent framework for collaboration that binds the port
community together, complement individual institutional service
charters.
It hoped that its adoption will help nature best
industry customs and practices among cargo owners, traders, labour
unions, the civil society, donors and the general public. The charter
also seeks to develop and implement a self-monitoring and evaluation
mechanism for collective community obligations.
To speed up realisation of the potential of the
Mombasa corridor and spur East Africa’s economic growth, the Port
community has set ambitious goals that must be achieved to create the
requisite momentum.
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