Kenya has been exploring development of sea-to-air multimodal hubs where cargo arriving by sea is quickly transferred to nearby airports, and then shipped by air to both regional and global markets.
Benchmarks of Dubai, Singapore and Colombo showcase how sea-air logistics have created global trade hubs in these regions. In Dubai, there is a tightly coupled port-airport corridor: Jebel Ali, JAFZA Free Zone and Al Makhtoum International Airport that are linked by a bonded road corridor.
This enables rapid sea-to-air movements and virtual-trucking. In Singapore, its port and the air cargo handler at Changi Airport have formalised sea-air connectivity thereby integrating freight handling processes and free-trade-zone flows.
Sri Lanka has a growing port platform with a major container terminal expansion underway. This is strengthening Colombo’s transshipment role between the port and Bandaranaike International Airport.
There are verifiable claims by global forwarders that sea-air operations are 50 percent faster than all-sea and up to 40 percent cheaper than all-air.
So, what should Kenya do?
Between the port and airport in Mombasa, we need to create a bonded sea-to-air corridor. This will mirror Dubai’s unified customs bond and e-seal monitored road feeder between Kilindini’s port gates and Mombasa airport’s cargo area.
Co-locating of a sea-air logistics free-trade-zone adjacent to port and airport, will allow duty-suspended shipments speedy transit, simple re-labelling/kitting by light industries, and quick re-exportation.
The sea-to-air concept will allow Kenya to target varied trade-lanes and commodities, such as Asia to Mombasa by sea then to Europe/Middle East by air for electronics, garments; and inbound spare parts to East and Central Africa.
We can easily use sea-air logistics to dodge long all-sea transits times via Suez Canal during disruptions akin to the Dubai-Singapore play.
A Northern-corridor market capture exists if the Lamu Port’s relationship with Isiolo Airport is harnessed. We can use Lamu Port for sea arrivals, bonded road-rail via the Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor to Isiolo for air uplift to serve Ethiopia, South Sudan, Northern Kenya and the wider landlocked hinterland of East, Central and Southern Africa. This will be a complementary gateway to decongest Nairobi (similar model to Dubai’s Logistics City Free Zone concept).
Sea-to-air strategy presents new export opportunities from Northern Kenya which has untapped potential in livestock, meat processing, horticulture, and mining.
An effective LAPSSET will generally enhance our regional competitiveness but particularly position Kenya to compete with Addis Ababa (Ethiopian Airlines hub) and Dubai (global sea-air hub) by creating alternative transit nodes in Mombasa and Isiolo.
New jobs in cargo handling, warehousing, logistics, and cold chain management will be created within logistics cluster that will be set up by sea-to-air freight activities.
In summary, the Mombasa and Isiolo sea-air hubs will position Kenya as cost-effective, time-efficient gateway for mid-value and perishable goods in and out of Eastern and Central Africa.
They will unlock Northern Kenya and regional economies, decentralise cargo away from Nairobi and make Kenya more competitive against other African hubs.
Rapid multi-modal freight movements will attract foreign direct investments by multi-national transport and logistics companies into Kenya.
Resilient and predictable supply chains as well as diversified logistics options will provide Kenya with redundancy against global shocks e.g. the Red Sea disruptions, Suez Canal blockages and constrained airfreight capacities. Cold Chain Integration for exports via sea-to-air links will support perishables exports. This will enhance Kenya’s agricultural export earnings courtesy of the coastal region.
The writer is trade, logistics & supply chain consultant.
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