Weekly protests hit seamless flow of cargo from Mombasa port

Nairobi. The weekly protests have affected the seamless flow of cargo to and from the Mombasa port, with cargo handlers complaining over delays in delivering goods to clients.

Transporters and shippers have attributed recent road blockages and protests along the key Mombasa-Malaba road to delays and losses they are incurring despite not being targeted by youth protests.

More than 3,000 containers from the port of Mombasa are transported by road daily, with about 1500 being ferried using the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) either to Nairobi County or Naivasha, Nakuru County.

Kenya Transporters Association chairman Newton Wang’oo said the turnaround time for trucks ferrying goods from and to Mombasa port has been affected by the protests.

Mr Wang’oo said that even though transporters are not targeted, they are bearing the brunt of the protests, causing losses and delays in delivering goods to clients.

“In a month, we lose about five days where we have to park our trucks along the highway for safety but this comes with a cost as we have to pay truck drivers and security for the trucks,” said the chairman.

Criminal case

“We are happy truckers are not targeted, and for the two incidents in the email where a truck was burned down, we regard it as a normal criminal case.” The Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA) chief executive, Agayo Ogambi, said there have been reports of road blockages along the Northern Corridor causing delays in the movement of goods.

Mr Ogambi said there is heightened monitoring of the situation and several stops among the transporters who would not like to risk the trucks and goods.

“We experience several truck stops, especially on days of demonstrations while some truckers opt to be cautious by not deploying their vehicles. The stops, though necessary under the circumstances, have led to delayed deliveries and longer transit times,” he said.

The Northern Corridor road network covers 12,707 kilometres from Mombasa and serves Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. Increasing delays have made the corridor more expensive, with the latest survey by SCEA last year indicating transporters using the Northern Corridor have been bearing some of the highest costs in the world.

According to the SCEA survey, transport costs in the region are estimated at $1.8 per km per container, against international best practices of $1 per km per container.

The report noted the most expensive route to transport cargo was Kampala-Mombasa at $2.5 per tonne, followed by Mombasa-Kampala at $2.17, Dar es Salaam-Kampala $1.17 and Bujumbura-Dar es Salaam at $1.02 per tonne.

SCEA indicated the top three least expensive international routes were Dar es Salaam-Bujumbura at $0.02 per tonne, followed by Dar es Salaam-Kigali at $ 0.17 and Nairobi-Dodoma at $0.1 per tonne.”