This archive report was first published on 11 May 2020.
On Thursday, the inaugural freight via the Standard Gauge Railway arrived in Naivasha, where it was received by Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and top officials from the Kenya Ports Authority and the Kenya Railways Corporation.
Most of the cargo at the depot is destined for Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi, and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kenya Railways Managing Director Phillip Mainga stated that the corporation will have two initial daily trains hauling up to 108 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and a minimum of 70 TEUs.
The Naivasha Inland Container Depot has a capacity to hold two million tonnes annually and is intended to reduce congestion at the Nairobi ICD and Mombasa port, cut the number of trucks on the roads, and facilitate seamless trans-shipment of goods to neighboring countries.
Mainga said, "We want to contain the spike in the number of truck drivers testing positive for Covid-19 because there will be fewer trucks originating from Mombasa."
Meanwhile, Uganda Railways Corporation operations manager Abobeko Chaki said the increase in operations between the Port of Kisumu and Port Bell in Uganda will improve the quality of service delivery and reduce human movements across the two countries in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Chaki added, "By using railway and water transport system, we will be able to transport up to 17 million litres of fuel at ago and reduce the number of trucks operating between the two countries and hence minimise the risk of spreading the Covid-19."
