Mombasa port handles 10.6% more than last year

Mombasa, Kenya’s main port, has a traffic increase of 10.6% between January and September of 2017.

According to the port’s management, the rise is because of the expansion to the port’s handling capacity, as well as the new railway system.

Mombasa has a traffic of 22.8mn tonnes of cargo in the first nine months of the year, whereas for the same time period in 2016 the port handled 20.6mn tonnes.

The port is considered a measure of economic activity in the region, as east Africa’s biggest port.

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Mombasa regularly handles fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

19.3mn tonnes were accounted for by imports, which was 17.4mn tonnes last year, an increase of 10.4%.

Exports cover 2.7mn tonnes in 2016, and 2.8mn tonnes this year, a 3.2% rise.

Transit cargo increased by 8.6%, rising from 5.9mn tonnes to 6.5mn tonnes, with Uganda accounting for 81% of all transit traffic.

Last year, the Mombasa port increased its cargo-handling capacity by 550,000 TEUs by commissioning another US$300mn container terminal.

The second phase of construction for the extension is expected to being early 2018, and will brinf an additional capacity of 450,000 TEUs.