Located in Eastern Africa, Kenya is categorized as a middle-income country. Kenya’s economy has grown steadily with a boost provided by the service sector, tourism and telecommunications.
The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and the government are responsible for operating, managing and refurbishing the nation’s ports.There are about 15 ports in the country and most of these are undergoing expansion and renovation to meet global standards.
The two biggest ports are the Mombasa port and the recently constructed Lamu port, both located along the coastal part of Kenya along the same coastline (Indian Ocean).
Port of Mombasa
Situated on the African Coast, Mombasa Port is not only the premier port of Kenya but the biggest and also the busiest port of the eastern African region. The annual handling capacity of the port is 2.65 million TEU’s.
It is a critical maritime gateway serving the central and the east African region, linking countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia etc. The port’s international shipping lines include Western Europe, Asia, the Americas and the East. It deals with various types of goods such as fertilizers, grains, cement, soda ash and also liquid bulk like crude oil and petroleum. Importation challenges were faced by countries of the great lakes region in East and Central Africa as almost all of them imported merchandise through the port of Mombasa, Kenya.
The countries of this region are majorly landlocked and are often faced with great challenges during trade.
Lamu Port
The President of Kenya commissioned the new Port of Lamu on May 20 2021. Ever since the colonial era, Kenya has been dependent on one major Port (Mombasa) and transport corridor (the Mombasa–Kisumu-Busia highway and railway, also referred to as the Northern Corridor). Indeed, Kenya’s population settled roughly along this corridor, about 100 miles North and South of it.
Both have withstood many challenges over time. The most pressing one from a geo-political point of view has been the capacity of the Port of Mombasa and the Northern Corridor to satisfy the shipping, maritime and transport needs of Greater East Africa.
Manda Bayat was picked as the site for the port since it has a wide entrance channel and a deep basin. The 10 km shoreline is ideal for building a huge port with about 23 berths. This port would have the latest infrastructure and would comprise a railway terminal, storage tanks, container freight stations, refinery etc.
These port facilities would also create many jobs in numerous sectors such as agriculture, transport, trade etc. The port would cater to much bigger ships and would also handle some cargo that earlier went through the Sudan port and also Mombasa port. This port is projected to witness cargo traffic worth 23.9 million by 2030.
The County Government of Lamu has been gifted a golden opportunity to leverage the Port of Lamu to change lives for the better, for good. With the planned Lamu Resort City, road and rail connectivity, Special Economic Zone among other infrastructure programmes, the sky is literally the limit and Lamu is an investor’s heaven.
The people of Lamu also face a significant mental challenge; overcoming the traditional way of life exemplified by tourism and fishing, to embracing port-related activities at all levels, both blue and white collar, and the training required to perform in such roles. This reset is as important to the people of Lamu as the port itself. When complete, in 2030, the port will be the largest deep-sea port in East and Central Africa with cargo projected capacity of 40 million tons per year. Though good economically, the ongoing dredging of 32 deep-sea berths, 18m deep, 400m-long and the 6kms coastline with deep sheltered bay and wide channels 1.5km causeway on a 1,000 acres.The central purpose of this development is to reduce over-reliance on Kenya’s Mombasa as of Mombasa while at the same time opening Kenya’s largely under-developed north borderline.