Transport

Exports decline to 8pc of total goods at Mombasa port

mombasa

Port of Mombasa. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Mombasa port recorded 8 per cent in exports as share of the total cargo handled at the facility, a significant drop from the same period last year when it stood at 15 per cent.

This is according to the latest Northern Corridor Transport Observatory report, which attributes the decline to challenges related to Covid-19.

In 2019 during the same period, the Port of Mombasa recorded 15 per cent of export cargo that goes through Mombasa, with a third of the total belonging to neighbouring countries, while Kenya, the region’s biggest economy, taking up the lion’s share.

The new report attributes the decline in the first six months of this year to closure of borders with Uganda which is the main transit user, recording a number of hitches along the corridor and at the borders.

In Kenya, tea which is sold through Mombasa auction sustained the biggest export market through the port.

The Northern Corridor report indicates that the overall performance of the port fell by 5 per cent, from 14.3 million metric tonnes in 2019 to 13.6 million metric tonnes in the mid of 2020, with imports accounting for 82 per cent of the total cargo handled.

Notably, a larger share of imported cargo through the Port of Mombasa for the six months was containerised goods that stood at 66 per cent.

Kenya accounted for the bulk of the total throughput at 64 per cent, whereas about 36 per cent of total throughput was for transit market.

Shippers Council for East Africa Executive officer Gilbert Lagat attributed the increase of containerised cargo to importation of processed products compared to raw materials.

“There is a reversal of imported cargo from conventional cargo (loose cargo) to containerised cargo since companies are preferring importing finished goods to raw material because there is no conducive environment to process products during this pandemic period,” said Mr Lagat.

According to the data, in June 2019 containerised cargo accounted for 47 per cent of the total throughput while the rest was conventional cargo due to increased infrastructure development projects and companies were processing more products which resulted to high importation of raw materials.

Uganda remains the biggest transit market, accounting for 3.28 million metric tonnes during the period under review.

The Northern Corridor half year report shows some positive indication in export increasing by 3 per cent in May of the total throughput, from 11 per cent in January this year.

Apparently, Covid-19 has had a profound effect on transport and logistics.

According to the report, the challenges experienced in addressing cross-border trade at the onset of the disease manifested lack of trans-boundary disaster management strategies, thus exacerbating the impact of the pandemic.

The same report shows a decline in the demand for crude oil which may be attributed to the outbreak of the coronavirus and the subsequent cut in oil production by oil-producing countries.

According to the Oil Market Report, since May 2020, OPEC+ countries have been reducing output by over nine million barrels daily, a factor that undermined the demand for crude oil globally.

Statistics also showed that the indicator for the delays after customs release at the Mombasa port worsened for the quarter in 2020 to a maximum of 51 hours when compared to the same quarter in 2019, which at its highest stood at 38 hours, as truckers experienced long waits for clearance for Covid-19 health protocols before embarking on their journeys.

However, there was a gradual improvement in performance for the quarter from 55 hours in April 2020 to 34 hours in June 2020.

Transit time is determined as the period from the time goods are released at the Port/Inland Container Depots up to the exit points at the border and final destinations.

Member states have employed different tracking regimes.

In most of the routes along the Northern Corridor, transit times increased partly due to the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.