Press Center | Freight Shipping Logistics News
Feb 28, 2012
General
caxias
Kenya Ports Authority bears heavy blame for congestion at the Port of Mombasa, which is causing losses to the national economy through delays in clearance of cargo.
Kenya Ports Authority bears heavy blame for congestion at the Port of Mombasa, which is causing losses to the national economy through delays in clearance of cargo.
A survey by the Shipping Council of Kenya on the state of affairs at the port returned a damning verdict on how KPA runs the facility, which serves the country and other landlocked countries.
Among key findings was that though the corporation has good equipment that can support its quayside operations, these machinery are largely unproductive, raising questions about the capacity of the staff.
“KPA has equipment. The challenge is productive use of the equipment,” said the report, ‘Findings of Specific Bottlenecks and Responsible Agencies at the Port of Mombasa’.
Though KPA works fast and hard to get the containers off the ships, this was to avoid incurring costs in delay charges levied by shipping lines. But once the containers are off-loaded, they remain piled in haphazard fashion across the port quayside, the report says.
The situation mirrors lack of planning by KPA, which makes it difficult for parties to locate and access containers easily so as to move them from the port faster.
The report was compiled by a team of economists at the Shipping Council of Kenya, following a survey of the operations at the port early this month. It was presented to key players and users by an economist with SCK Mr Humphrey Kisembe, during a one-day conference held in Mombasa.
Emphasising on the need for KPA to invest in training staff to handle equipment well, Mr Kisembe said: “When KQ (Kenya Airways) buys a Boeing plane, it invests heavily in training pilots, cabin crew and relevant staff to handle the equipment well. This is the way KPA must go.”
About 16,000 containers are still lying at the port a month after the launch of a Rapid Results Initiative on January 25, 2012, which was meant to unclog flow of cargo through the port
A survey by the Shipping Council of Kenya on the state of affairs at the port returned a damning verdict on how KPA runs the facility, which serves the country and other landlocked countries.
Among key findings was that though the corporation has good equipment that can support its quayside operations, these machinery are largely unproductive, raising questions about the capacity of the staff.
“KPA has equipment. The challenge is productive use of the equipment,” said the report, ‘Findings of Specific Bottlenecks and Responsible Agencies at the Port of Mombasa’.
Though KPA works fast and hard to get the containers off the ships, this was to avoid incurring costs in delay charges levied by shipping lines. But once the containers are off-loaded, they remain piled in haphazard fashion across the port quayside, the report says.
The situation mirrors lack of planning by KPA, which makes it difficult for parties to locate and access containers easily so as to move them from the port faster.
The report was compiled by a team of economists at the Shipping Council of Kenya, following a survey of the operations at the port early this month. It was presented to key players and users by an economist with SCK Mr Humphrey Kisembe, during a one-day conference held in Mombasa.
Emphasising on the need for KPA to invest in training staff to handle equipment well, Mr Kisembe said: “When KQ (Kenya Airways) buys a Boeing plane, it invests heavily in training pilots, cabin crew and relevant staff to handle the equipment well. This is the way KPA must go.”
About 16,000 containers are still lying at the port a month after the launch of a Rapid Results Initiative on January 25, 2012, which was meant to unclog flow of cargo through the port
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