Containers at the Port of Mombasa. [Photo/fairplay.ihs.com]
The Mombasa Port saw bulk clinker dominating imports in the week ended November 1, 2017.According to statistics from Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) 68,434 tonnes of clinker, about a third of the total throughput at the Port of Mombasa’s conventional cargo terminal was offloaded during the period under review.The terminal received 20 general cargo vessels which discharged 176,625 tonnes of imported goods and loaded 3,515 tonnes for export. Cargo handling performance at the terminal which largely specializes in non-containerised cargo registered 25,734 tonnes per day.Bulk wheat registered 34,141 tonnes, maize 29,792 tonnes, fertilizer 23,758 tonnes while the balance was an assortment of cargo weighing 15,695 tonnes.Some 1,037 units of motorcars and 400 trucks were discharged out of which 1,120 units were released direct to the Container Freight Stations, leaving a balance of 300 units and 15 others which were transferred to the motorcar section. Container terminals received 12 vessels recording a ship average working time of 1.36 days as the container dwell time registered 4.12 days.The yards were holding 5,605 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) which were awaiting pickup order, 3,972TEUs ready for collection and 1,635 TEUs full exports. The others included 774 TEUs transshipments that had registered an increase of 326 TEUs from the previous week, 1,109 TEUs empties and 867 TEUs at the Customs warehouse.Uganda dominated the transit market accounting for 3,398 TEUs, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo with 232 TEUs, Tanzania with 214 TEUs and Rwanda with 160 TEUs. Other transit market destinations included South Sudan which accounted for 139 TEUs while Somalia and Burundi registered 9 and 5 TEUs respectively.Forecast for the next 14 days shows that the container terminals are expected to receive 10 container ships, to discharge 9,211 TEUs and load 11,677 TEUs. On the other section of the port, the conventional cargo terminal is expected to receive 19 general cargo vessels that will discharge 38,4379.8 tonnes and load 950 tonnes.