State vows to go ahead with sale of berths at port

The dock workers have faulted the increased container traffic reason, saying the second container terminal to be constructed at a cost of Sh23 billion with the help from Japan, will cater for the growing volumes.

“Instead of concentrating on the container terminal, the port should engage the private sector on other projects identified in the revised master plan,” the Dock Workers Union secretary general, Mr Simon Sang, said.

He added the decision smacked of impropriety because it came from “a different quarter and not the port itself.” 

“The authority has committed over Sh23 billion to construct a second container terminal at the port of Mombasa, which will increase the total capacity to 1.6 million Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (Teus) when completed in 2012,” Mr Sang said.

The port is now handling around 600,000 Teus. Berths 11-14 were originally designed to handle general cargo but due to growth of containerised cargo, they are now used for container vessels, KPA said in a recent brief.  

The recently unveiled master plan says shipping lines have expressed interest in developing berth 12-14.

According to KPA, privatisation of these berths will reduce the container dwell time from 14 to seven days.

“This conclusion is wrong since the current average dwell time is six days,” Sang said in a previous interview.

The government intends to convert the berths into a fully fledged container terminal with modern container handling equipment such as ship-to-shore gantry cranes.

This will require physical restructuring of the facilities, including strengthening of the quay to sustain the weight of the cranes.

The terminal will be leased to a private operator while KPA remains the landlord authority, said the brief.

No decision

“The process of the port privatisation has just started and a decision has not yet been arrived. It is a process through which consensus will be built,” the KPA managing director, Mr James Mulewa said.

Following the intended conversion of the four berths, dock workers are afraid of huge job losses.