KPA dismisses report on port performance

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has dismissed a report by the Kenya Shippers Council (KSC) that ranked it bottom among key ports in the world.

The survey released by KSC titled Logistics Performance Index for EastAfrica this week said it takes the longest time to remove cargo from the port of Mombasa compared to the ports of Dar es Salaam, Durban and Singapore.

The KSC survey showed that a container may take up to 22 days at the port Mombasa.

The management of the port, however, have disputed the numbers saying they don’t capture the reality on the ground.

READ: KPA blames shipping agents for delaying goods clearance

“Containers currently take a maximum of five days to leave the port. We have now moved past Dar es Salaam and Durban,” said Twalib Hamisi, general manager operations at the port.

The survey reported that containers at Dar es Salaam leave the port four days faster than in Mombasa, while its takes only three days in Durban and two days in Singapore.

The total port dwell time depends on factors such as the time it takes before offloading starts on a ship, the duration it takes to offload, the time containers take in Container Freight Stations (CFS), customs procedures and exit procedures.

KSC says ships normally wait for eight days at Mombasa Port before containers are offloaded, an observation that KPA’s Managing Director Gichiri Ndua disputes.

“Currently, we don’t have any ships waiting at the port due to faster offloading of the containers from the ship,” Mr Ndua told the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Transport during a stakeholder’s meeting in Nairobi.

Six days

The report, which was done by the Institute of Trade Development — a consultancy firm — on behalf of KSC, said it takes three days to remove containers from a ship in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam and one day at Durban and Singapore.

The containers take six days in CFS in Mombasa, four days in Dar es Salaam and less than a day in Durban and Singapore.

Customs procedures take three days at Mombasa and Dar es Salaam and a few hours in Durban and Singapore.

Lack of enough handling space at the port of Mombasa and poor rail services are some of the causes of delay.