Transport CS Murkomen dismisses Senator Ole Kina's comparison of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports

Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen has dismissed Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina's claims that Tanzania's Dar es Salam Port surpasses the Mombasa Port in terms of ship traffic.

This comes after Ole Kina, on Thursday, posted a video allegedly capturing a lengthy queue of ships awaiting clearance at the Dar es Salam port, further intimating that the low traffic at the Mombasa Port was due to administrative deficiencies within the Kenya Kwanza regime.

"Mr @WilliamsRuto have you seen the ship traffic in Dar Salaam?  What is your advisor @DavidNdii telling you about it?  This used to be Kenya when we had good leadership at the top! Remember that ?" Ole Kina captioned the X video.

In a rejoinder on X on Friday, Murkomen highlighted that congestion at the Dar es Salam Port signifies operational inefficiency and not the effectiveness of the harbour.

"Bro nikama mambo ya Port huelewi kama ile ya Barabara. For your information congestion is a sign of inefficiency. Our container turnaround time is 2 days when our neighbors take 38 days. We are one of the most efficient Ports in the continent," said Murkomen.

"With our planned investments including PPP, we shall be far ahead in facilitating regional trade and creating more jobs for our people. On a light note I have realized you are focusing on my ministry a lot  which is welcomed Kabisa bro."

To push his point home, the Transport CS  posted two additional documents highlighting the efficiency of the Mombasa Port as at November 2023.

The documents indicate that the overall cargo volume at the Mombasa Port increased by 1.587 million tons or 5.1 percent, reaching 32,950,000 tons from January to November 2023, in comparison to the corresponding period in 2022. The growth has been attributed to an increase in the handling of transit cargo at the Mombasa Port by 1.017 million tons.

"By the end of 2023, we expect to handle 35 million tons. Total Container Traffic recorded 1,470,754 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) in Jan-Nov 2023, which is an increase of 145,702 TEUs or 11 percent compared with the same period in 2022. We expect to reach 1.6 million TEUs by the end of the year," the documents seen by Citizen Digital read in part.

The records additionally indicate that transhipment activity at the port totalled 177,144 TEUs from January to November 2023, reflecting an 11 percent decrease compared to the corresponding period in 2022. This is expected to grow further due to the congestion currently experienced in other regional ports.

"The impressive all-round performance is a true reflection of the drastic improvements in the levels of services at the Port. Container Vessel Turnaround time: a key indicator of port competitiveness, improved from an average of 3 days in 2022 to 2 days in 2023," the documents shared by the CS read.

The documents likewise highlighted that the average container dwell time between January and October 2023 decreased to 3.5 days from 3.9 days in 2022, marking a 10 percent enhancement in efficiency.

"Ship waiting time for containerized vessels is 0.2 days while Gross vessel turnaround time is 64.1 hours compared to 90.5 hours in the corresponding period in 2022, registering a marked improvement in ship port time," the aforesaid documents read.  

"Equally, Bulk Cargo vessel turnaround time stands at 3.6 days while car carrier vessel turnaround time is at 0.9 days. General cargo and Tanker vessels' turnaround time is at 7.2 days and 4.3 days, respectively. Many aspects of this impressive performance are way above what is being witnessed and experienced in other regional ports."