Celebrations as port hits million containers mark

Port workers during the offloading of the one millionth container at the Port of Mombasa on December 31, 2014. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Port is the second busiest in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The port has the potential to be ranked even higher in the prestigious list of the World Top Container Ports.

By NATION CORRESPONDENT
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Mombasa Port on Wednesday joined the top performing container ports in the world after handling a million containers last year.

The Port which is the second busiest in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa’s Port of Durban had, by close of the year 2014, clocked over one million containers or the equivalent of twenty-foot container units in cargo.

While celebrating the historic achievement, Kenya Ports Authority managing director Gichiri Ndua said the growth elevates Kenya to the league of countries with best-performing ports in the world.

“This is a moment of pride and celebration for us; I am delighted to report to you that we have attained a throughput of one million containers in the year ending 31 December 2014,” Mr Ndua said.

The port has the potential to be ranked even higher in the prestigious list of the World Top Container Ports.

“We are equally optimistic that we shall maintain our position of being among the top five container ports in Africa,” Mr Ndua said.

The port targeted to hit the one million mark in 2013 but managed 894,000 containers due to the electioneering period which led to a shortfall of -1 per cent unlike 903, 463 containers in 2012.

The MD attributed the impressive performance to improved operational efficiency at the terminal.

This follows acquisition of new equipment, implementation of Information Communication Technology (ICT) which has improved cargo clearance processes at the facility.