Transport

Construction of jetty for giant oil tankers starts next year

jetty

An aerial view showing an oil tanker off-loading crude oil at KPA’s Kipevu Oil Terminal in Mombasa. The government plans to build a bigger facility at the Dongo Kundu Bay, Mombasa. PHOTO | FILE

Construction of a larger docking facility for bigger oil tankers is set to start early next year as the country races to expand its petroleum storage tanks to boost reserves and stabilise fuel pump prices.

The planned offshore jetty in the port of Mombasa has attracted 31 bidders from across the world and will result in the relocation of the existing Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) which has a smaller capacity.

The Kenya Ports Authority, the agency implementing the project, on Monday opened prequalification tenders, as it seeks to assess the financial capacity and technical know-how of interested companies.

“The pre-qualification exercise will enable the Authority to shortlist qualified firms to be invited to bid. Tenders for construction will go out by July 2016 ahead of actual construction early next year,” KPA acting managing director Catherine Mturi- Wairi said in a statement.

Construction of the new jetty will take 30 months and is part of the ongoing expansion of Mombasa port’s second container terminal to handle larger ships.

Companies from 15 countries including England, South Africa, China, Japan, Australia, India, Dubai, US, United Arab Emirates, Spain and Netherlands are eyeing the multibillion–shilling contract.

Bigger oil storage tanks are also in the projects construction works. Sector players argue the country, which is a net importer of oil, would have reaped more benefits from the recent crash in global oil prices had it invested in bigger storage facilities.

The country has no strategic reserves currently and relies on oil marketers’ 21-day oil reserves required under industry regulations.

The KPA said the Kipevu oil terminal would be moved to a site adjacent to Mombasa port berth 16 and 17 and overlooking the naval base in Mtongwe.

“The multibillion-shilling project will involve decommissioning of the existing Kipevu Oil Terminal and construction of an offshore jetty near Dongo Kundu,” said the KPA.

“The modern facility will have both subsea and land based pipelines connecting it to the storage facilities in Kipevu.”

The jetty will include an island terminal with four berths that are capable of handling the importation and exportation of five different types of fuel products, the authority said.

READ: Part of new Mombasa port terminal opens

KOT presently handles more than 90 per cent of the country’s imports as well as transit products for Uganda, northern Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern DR Congo and South Sudan.

Refined petroleum products are offloaded at the KOT and transferred to Kipevu Oil Storage Facility (Kosf) in the coastal town.

A smaller jetty at Shimanzi Oil Terminal (SOT) is operated by oil marketers for import and export of refined petroleum products.

Products imported through SOT are evacuated by road and rail. The long term plan of the KPA is to cease using SOT for handling petroleum products.

The shifting of the KOT will create room for construction of phase two of the second container terminal. The port of Mombasa in February boosted its container handling capacity by 50 per cent following the completion of phase one of the mega second container terminal project.

Developed under the Mombasa Port Development Programme (MPDP), phase one of the new terminal has an estimated capacity of 550,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) annually.

On completion the second container terminal is hoped to hand the port of Mombasa a total additional capacity of 1.5 million TEUs annually.