Mombasa port officials seek to lure Burundi, DR Congo traders
Officials from the Port of Mombasa have embarked on a charm offensive to neighboring landlocked countries in a bid to convince them to use the facility amid competition from the Port of Dar es Salaam.
This follows several meetings between port officials and different East African leaders.
On April 25, 2023, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) officials led by Managing Director William Ruto and chairman Benjamin Dalu Tayari met with the Burundi business community and urged them to utilize Naivasha & Nairobi ICDs for cargo clearance.
Chairman @DaluTayari & MD Captain William Ruto met Bujumbura business community during the ongoing transit stakeholder visit to understand customer concerns and needs
The delegation later paid a courtesy call on Kenya's High Commissioner to Burundi H.E Daniel Wambura pic.twitter.com/R49UKeOFSN— Kenya Ports Authority (@Kenya_Ports) April 25, 2023
Through its Twitter page, KPA said, “KPA will address non-tariff barriers like weighbridges along the northern corridor free storage period and port charges to improve customer experience and efficiency of Port of Mombasa.”
On the same day, KPA chairman DaluTayari met the Bujumbura business community during the ongoing transit stakeholder visit to understand customer concerns and needs.
And on April 24, 2023, a delegation from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) led by John Dietrick, Chief Mor con, paid a courtesy call on the KPA MD at his office.
“The Port of Mombasa remains incredibly critical for the Mission’s operations. We are visiting this Port to maintain good relations and to ensure communication is open in both ways,” Mr Dietrick said.
KPA officials have recently also held meetings with traders in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The meetings come at a time when the volume of cargo handled by Mombasa port reduced for the first time in five years with players pointing to rising competition from Dar es Salaam.
According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data, total cargo throughput at the port shrunk to 33.74 million metric tonnes last year from 34.76 million tonnes the year before.
The fall comes at a time businesses have complained of road tolls, multiple border charges, heavy traffic and road conditions as major cost drivers along the Northern Corridor (Mombasa Port), prompting them to consider the Central Corridor(Dar-es-salaam).
The northern corridor stretches about 1,700km from the Mombasa port through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) while the Central Corridor is estimated at 1,300km beginning at the Port of Dar es Salaam into Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and eastern DRC.
Kenya has also been on the spot because of the ongoing Azimio la Umoja One Kenya anti-government demos which have influenced businesses in Momnbasa and Kisumu.
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