This archive report was first published on 19 May 2020.
Published on May 19, 2020, a report by the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Co-ordination Authority highlighted a 2.1% decline in container traffic at the Port of Mombasa in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
The decline raises concerns about the Kenya Ports Authority's goal of attaining a 35.9 million tonnes total throughput and 1.49 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) target in 2020, as stated in the Kenya Ports Authority's Master Plan.
The report attributed the decline to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a drop in container traffic from 110,790 TEUs handled in February 2019 to 108,958 TEUs recorded in February 2020.
China, a top trading partner with Kenya, contributes 29.2% of the full import containers or 9.9% of the total cargo throughput handled in Mombasa, according to 2019 port statistics.
Several big container liners from China and bulk carriers cancelled their normal calls in the first quarter due to the virus, while exports were curtailed due to restrictions in Europe, the USA, and other export markets.
The report also noted that the volume of cargo handled at the Inland Container Depot Nairobi (ICDN) declined from 31,516 TEUs recorded in March 2019 to 26,200 TEUs in 2020.
Despite fewer vessels calling at the port, the Covid-19 pandemic led to stringent measures introduced to protect dock workers and increased the documentation process, resulting in increased cargo dwell time for transit goods.
