Team to probe dumping of empty containers at port

The increasing number of uncollected empty containers at the Port of Mombasa has raised concern with the authorities now seeking to determine the reasons behind the situation.

There are claims that some shipping lines are dumping empty containers at the port. The issue came up during the National Development Implementation Technical Committee (NDITC) led by Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, and consequently a team was set up to investigate the issue.

"We are happy cargo congestion at the port has been resolved and currently we have no ship waiters, but the main concern which we have been tasked to investigate are the allegations that some shipping lines are not collecting empty containers which are congesting the Port," said Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA) Chief Executive officer Gilbert Lagat.

Early this month, key port management operators — the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) — introduced the use of double stack trains to speed up the evacuation of cargo at the Port of Mombasa and deal with mounting congestion. But the double walled wagons have brought a challenge in scanning the cargo and Mr Kibicho ordered KRA to introduce special scanners to deal with the problem to ensure all cargo is scanned.

"It is important to have special scanner to deal with the problem since current system is not able to achieve that," said Mr Kibicho.

The current system was designed to scan one container at a time.