The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has reported a 5 percent increase in cargo handling for the year 2023.
According to KPA, the period between January and November witnessed the handling of more than 1.6 million tons of cargo, marking a substantial rise compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
In the span of eleven months, the total cargo handled at the port reached an impressive 32,950,000 tons.
The authority foresees this figure surpassing 35 million tons by the year-end.
The container traffic at the port also exhibited a commendable performance, recording a total of 1,470,754 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) during the same period. This signifies a significant uptick of over 145,000 TEUs compared to the previous year.
“Transshipment traffic registered 177,144 TEUs in Jan-Nov 2023 which is a drop of 11 percent compared with the same period in 2022. However, we expect the transshipment traffic to grow further due to the congestion currently experienced in other regional ports,” a statement read.
The current congestion experienced in other regional ports is expected to drive increased transshipment traffic in the future, according to a statement from the authority.
The growth in cargo handling is attributed to the concerted efforts to enhance services at the port. Key performance indicators, such as container vessel turnaround time, demonstrated improvement, reducing from an average of 3 days in 2022 to 2 days in 2023.
Additionally, the average container dwell time for the period from January to October 2023 decreased to 3.5 days, down from 3.9 days in the previous year.
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