Tororo dry port set to ease Mombasa pile-up

The establishment of a dry port in Tororo is expected to speed up transportation of goods to Uganda and the Great Lakes region and help to ease congestion at the Kilindini harbour.

The inland port will quicken cargo clearance at the Mombasa port for goods bound for Uganda and the Great Lakes region.

“The port will significantly improve efficiency in cargo handling from Mombasa port thereby reducing freight costs and demurrage occasioned by long delays at the point of entry,” said Mr Mohamed Jaffer, chairman of the Great Lakes Ports.

With increased economic activities in East Africa, the Mombasa port is creaking under the growing weight of increasing imports and exports cargoes.

According to data from the Central Bank of Kenya the main destination of Kenya exports in the region is to Uganda which account for 11.4 per cent of the country export business.

The share of exports to the East African Community (EAC) region is estimated at 22.7 per cent, while those to Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) region is 29.2 per cent.

The dry port to be established by Great Lakes Ports Tororo will be located at the Tororo-Malaba border point.

Great Lakes Ports Tororo is a subsidiary of Great Lakes Port Kenya.

Construction expected to take two years will start by end of the year at an estimated cost Sh9.6 billion.

Beside the inland dry port, the facility will contain other services such as parking yard for imported vehicles, customs offices to ease clearing process, a fixed cargo X-ray scanner and a commercial centre.

In addition, the port is expected to minimise the current diversion of export-bound goods into the local market as the dry port management is obligated to ensure that such goods are delivered.

“We are to be accountable for all export-bound cargoes that will go through our system by ensuring they are moved through Kenya to the dry port in Uganda,” said Mr Jaffer.

To ease movement, an ‘off-dock facility’ at Changamwe has been constructed which will be used as a stop point before moving the goods to the Tororo dry port.

The Changamwe facility which is under construction at an estimated cost of Sh4 billion.

For a long time importers from Uganda and the Great Lake Region have complained of the long delays in clearance of goods at the Mombasa port which forces them to incur demurrage costs, loss of goods on transit and unnecessary travel to Mombasa to clear imported goods.