House team told of plans to privatise Mombasa port

“State corporations lack capital mobilisation and there are diminishing external resources available for the government to borrow to undertake such big projects as upgrading the port,” Mr Kitungu told port stakeholders in Mombasa, adding that the budgetary allocation to the port could not be relied on to carry out infrastructure development required at the port due to the growth in cargo traffic.

Since 2000, container traffic has recorded an eight per cent growth and in 2007, the port handled 585,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (Tues) against an installed capacity of 250,000 Teus.

With this growth rate, which is projected to reach over one million Teus in 2013, the Port of Mombasa must invest in cargo handling equipment to improve efficiency and protect the traditional transit markets of Uganda, Rwanda and the eastern Democratic |Republic of Congo.

The market is under threat from Dar es Salaam port.  

The 2008 statistics from KPA show that Uganda-destined cargo accounts for 76 per cent of all the cargo at the Port of Mombasa, which is the biggest in East Africa.

Mombasa has been handling 88 to 95 per cent of Uganda’s container traffic. 

During the post election violence in 2007 which affected flow of cargo through the Port of Mombasa, a huge portion of Ugandan business was shifted to Dar es Salaam port, an indication that Dar could serve as an alternative route for Ugandan cargo.

Between 25 and 38 per cent of Rwanda-destined containerised cargo is handled through Mombasa port.

“The area north and west of Bakavu tends to be served by Mombasa port and south eastern region including Katanga by Dar es Salaam,” the report says.

The proportion of Dar transit business is currently larger than that of Mombasa, which in 2008 recorded 40 per cent of its trade volume compared to Kenya’s 30 per cent in Mombasa.

Most of the transit cargo handled by the Dar port is for Zambia, Malawi, and Burundi.

The recently revised tariffs by KPA was seen by some marine experts as a move to protect Ugandan business after officials of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) toured Uganda for more business.