German firm ship begins docking at Mombasa port

A German-based transportation firm has started docking at the Port of Mombasa, adding to the list of multinational shipping lines discharging cargo at Kenya’s sole sea port.

Hapag-Lloyd Shipping Company introduced a new vessel, Mv Spero which has a capacity of 1770 (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) TEUs.

The shipping line, which is a leading global shipping company commenced its inaugural service to East Africa by first docking at the Port of Mombasa.

The Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director Catherine Mturi-Wairi in a statement said Mv Spero docked at the Mombasa port at 4am loaded with 1770 TEUs.

“The 1770 TEUs capacity vessel arrived at 4am on Thursday and will discharge a total of 154 TEUs on her maiden call, the vessel is expected to complete by noon before proceeding to the port of Dar es Salaam,” she said  

She said  the vessel which is operated by a leading global shipping company now brings to six the number of  the world’s largest container shipping lines docking at the Port of Mombasa.

READ: Sixth largest shipping company launches weekly Mombasa line

Hapag-Lloyd is a multinational German-based transportation company and is currently the world’s sixth largest container carrier in terms of vessel capacity.

Other world’s biggest container shipping lines docking at the Port of Mombasa are Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping company, CMA-CGM lines, China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) and Evergreen Shipping line.

“This has been as a result of the consistent port improvement programmes that have been put in place under the Mombasa Port Development Programme(MPDP),” she said.

The port handled 10.6 per cent more cargo in the first nine months of last year, helped by an expansion of its handling capacity and a new SGR railway.

Mombasa handled 22.8 million tonnes of cargo between January and September compared with 20.6 million in the same period in 2016.