​OPENING REMARKS BY THE KENYA PORTS AUTHORITY MANAGING DIRECTOR MRS. CATHERINE MTURI - WAIRI DURING THE MOMBASA PORT COMMUNITY THINK TANK FORUM AND PORT COMMUNITY CHARTER ANNUAL REVIEW HELD AT PRIDE INN PARADISE BEACH RESORT, MOMBASA ON MARCH 1ST, 2018.

  • Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development Mr. James Macharia, EGH,
  • Principal Secretary State Department for Transport, Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, Prof. Paul Maringa Mwangi (PHD), CBS, Corp. Arch, Maak, Mkip
  • Principal Secretary State Department for Maritime and Shipping Affairs Mrs. Nancy Karigithu
  • Principal Secretary State Department for Trade , Ministry of Industry, Trade and Co-operatives , Dr. Chris Kiptoo
  • Acting Director General Kenya Maritime Authority Mr. Cosmas Cherop,
  • The Country Director Trade Mark East Africa,
  • The Chairperson Mombasa Port Community Charter,
  • Distinguished stakeholders,
  • All invited guests,
  • Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning,

This day marks another significant phase in our concerted efforts towards giving the maritime industry and specifically the Northern Corridor an opportunity to continue offering quality services to our customers. We at Kenya Ports Authority are particularly upbeat about this forum given that, as the coordinator of Port operations, there are a number of milestones we have managed to cover faster owing to the supportive role of the Port Community charter.

 

As I was preparing for this forum, I asked myself what kind of scenario we would still be experiencing if we did not have an active Port Community charter in place. And in my mind, I envisaged, in the absence of the charter, a situation characterized by:

  • Silo mentality practices – where everyone works as a standalone with little or no transparency.
  • Lack of accountability – where no one takes responsibility for any failures
  • Poor  synergy – where there lacks team spirit
  • Business as usual mentality – where we do things in the same way every day and expect better results.
  • Lack of innovation – where modernization of service delivery is not encouraged
  • No communication platform – where decisions are not well informed due to poor information sharing mechanism.
  • Lack of stakeholder engagements – where decisions are unilateral.

 

Fortunately, the reality on the ground is the exact opposite of this figment.

 

Distinguished participants

As we can all recall, we last had a 'Think Tank' forum five years ago – precisely on 11th March, 2013 which culminated in the Mombasa Port Community Charter. Our main focus then was to:

  • Identify causes of traffic decline to the Port of Mombasa
  • Reduce non- tariff barriers along the northern corridor
  • Increase the Port's productivity and throughput
  • Enhance service delivery to meet customer needs.

 

It is not my intention to conclude whether all these objectives have been met because that is the purpose for this forum. However, I can positively confirm that cargo volumes through the Port have been growing, and as much we are not shying away from patting ourselves on the back, we unreservedly acknowledge the significant role of the charter in this development.

 

Equally, the charter has given us impetus to leverage on the innovative fixed berthing window system which has considerably improved ship turnaround time and overall port productivity. The charter has also exposed customers and stakeholders to the realization that port efficiency is not a preserve of KPA but a shared responsibility with other players. This positive move has not only helped them to timely and assuredly access services but also helped service providers to play their respective roles more effectively.

 

As I have mentioned, it is not my intention to preempt the details of the discussion of this forum but allow me to share the Authority's position in regard to how we have performed and contributed towards the success of the charter.

 Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Port of Mombasa remains a gateway to East and Central Africa with over forty shipping lines calling at the port. This has connected over eighty sea ports worldwide thus calling for greater cohesion and integration amongst all stakeholders for effective and efficient service delivery.

 Performance

In the last five years, the compounded annual cargo growth rates stood at 8 per cent for total throughput and 7.4 per cent for containerized traffic.

Last year, the Port of Mombasa recorded a significant increase in total cargo throughput with a growth of 10.9 percent from 27.36 million tons in 2016 to 30.35 million tons in 2017. 

Container traffic registered an impressive performance with an increase of 98,586 TEUs or 9.0 percent from 1.091 million TEUs handled in 2016 to 1.190 million TEUs in 2017. On the other hand, Transit cargo had a notable increase in performance from 7.75 million tons in 2016 to 8.64 million tons in 2017, posting a growth of 11.5 percent.

Imports grew substantially by 10.8 percent to record 25.60 million tons of cargo in 2017 up from 23.12 million tons in 2016. Exports recorded traffic of 3.79 million tons in 2017 against 3.66 million tons in 2016, a growth of 3.6 percent. The marginal increase was mainly supported by Coffee which increased by 33.3 percent and Tea by 4.1 percent.

For cargo destined to our transit markets, the port handled a total of 8,636,605 tons of transit cargo against 7,748,537 tons registered in the same period in 2016, representing an increase of 888,068 tons or 11.5 percent.

 Transshipment traffic continued to perform well posting 873,989 tons of cargo compared to 588,524 tons realized in the corresponding period of 2016, representing an increase of 285,465 tons or 48.5 percent. 

 Guest of Honour Sir,

To remain responsive to shipping and trade trends, we have continued to implement elaborate port modernization programmes to position the Port of Mombasa as a world class sea port of choice.

Towards this end, the Authority has focused on a combination of development strategies targeting infrastructure, labour, equipment, as well as Information Communication and Technology (ICT) systems for faster documentation.

We have also installed state of the art integrated security system to eradicate pilferage, among other projects. We take this opportunity to applaud stakeholder agencies who have embraced technology or are in the process of meeting these requirements.

In 2017, a number of the aforementioned projects were in progress and new ones are expected to be rolled out in 2018. The projects include:

 

  • Development of Phase II of the 2nd Container Terminal, scheduled to start by June 2018.
  • Scheduled plans to start construction of a new modern and bigger oil terminal in June to replace the current Kipevu Oil Terminal.
  • Construction of a modern cruise terminal at Berth No. 1 and 2 to complement Tourism.
  • Commenced cargo evacuation operations to Nairobi Inland Container Depot (NICD) via the new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)
  • Progressed on the construction of the first three berths of Lamu Port under the LAPSSET Corridor which is over 40% complete.
  • Started implementation of the Green Port Policy

 

Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

The purpose of this charter review forum, is to further establish a permanent framework of collaboration that binds the port community to specific actions, collective obligations, targets and time lines. Also, of keen interest would be to develop and implement a self–monitoring mechanism to ensure implementation of collective community obligations. It is my hope that our coming together today will result in enhanced competitiveness of the Corridor.

 

I wish to conclude by affirming that we in KPA shall remain open to constructive views from all stakeholders aimed at improving further our service delivery. We shall continue to benchmark widely to borrow best practices that have worked for the global maritime industry giants.

 

May God Bless you.