Kenyan port container traffic rises 5.2 pct in 2008
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Container traffic at Kenya's Mombasa port rose slightly by 5.2 percent to 615,733 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2008, authorities said on Thursday.
The growth was, however, slower than the 22 percent expansion the port saw in 2007 when it handled 585,367 TEUs, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) said in a statement.
"The slowdown in growth of container traffic was a result of a sluggish economic performance occasioned by the post-election skirmishes experienced early in the year and the current global economic downturn," KPA said.
East Africa's biggest economy was plunged into months of fighting at the start of 2008 after the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.
The fighting stopped after he agreed to share power with opponents but the economy is yet to fully recover from the effects of that disruption.
KPA said total throughput increased to 16.41 million tonnes from 15.96 million in 2007.
Although the post-election violence blocked transport routes to neighbouring landlocked countries, transit traffic headed there grew by 10.2 percent to 4.87 million tonnes from 4.4 million in the previous year, KPA said.
Three quarters of the transit traffic was destined for Uganda, which imported 3.7 million tonnes of merchandise. The Democratic Republic Congo was in second place with 304,400 tonnes.The amount of bulk liquid handled by the port on the Indian Ocean reduced slightly to 5.63 million tonnes, a 0.2 percent fall from the previous year.
Transshipment, or goods destined for an intermediary destination, was also down.
"Transshipment traffic equally took a slight drop of 1.6 percent as a result of the post-election disruptions ... that led to unprecedented congestion necessitating a temporary freeze in handling transshipment," the port said.
KPA said it awarded Japan Port Consultants a project design and supervision contract for a second container terminal with a 1.2 million TEU capacity.
It also plans to seek tenders for dredging the port channel by up to 15 meters draft and to widen the turning basins.
"This, upon completion, will accommodate the new generation of bigger vessels and increase the port's competitiveness, in light of the dynamic global shipping trends," it said.
Another project for a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) import terminal to handle about 600,000 tonnes of the gas is still under design and awaiting environmental regulatory approval.
The growth was, however, slower than the 22 percent expansion the port saw in 2007 when it handled 585,367 TEUs, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) said in a statement.
"The slowdown in growth of container traffic was a result of a sluggish economic performance occasioned by the post-election skirmishes experienced early in the year and the current global economic downturn," KPA said.
East Africa's biggest economy was plunged into months of fighting at the start of 2008 after the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.
The fighting stopped after he agreed to share power with opponents but the economy is yet to fully recover from the effects of that disruption.
KPA said total throughput increased to 16.41 million tonnes from 15.96 million in 2007.
Although the post-election violence blocked transport routes to neighbouring landlocked countries, transit traffic headed there grew by 10.2 percent to 4.87 million tonnes from 4.4 million in the previous year, KPA said.
Three quarters of the transit traffic was destined for Uganda, which imported 3.7 million tonnes of merchandise. The Democratic Republic Congo was in second place with 304,400 tonnes.The amount of bulk liquid handled by the port on the Indian Ocean reduced slightly to 5.63 million tonnes, a 0.2 percent fall from the previous year.
Transshipment, or goods destined for an intermediary destination, was also down.
"Transshipment traffic equally took a slight drop of 1.6 percent as a result of the post-election disruptions ... that led to unprecedented congestion necessitating a temporary freeze in handling transshipment," the port said.
KPA said it awarded Japan Port Consultants a project design and supervision contract for a second container terminal with a 1.2 million TEU capacity.
It also plans to seek tenders for dredging the port channel by up to 15 meters draft and to widen the turning basins.
"This, upon completion, will accommodate the new generation of bigger vessels and increase the port's competitiveness, in light of the dynamic global shipping trends," it said.
Another project for a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) import terminal to handle about 600,000 tonnes of the gas is still under design and awaiting environmental regulatory approval.