Kenya is restructuring operations at the Port of Mombasa following the completion of a new charter.

The Mombasa Port Corridor Charter to be officially launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta next month will address issues of alignment among port users in discharging their mandates in trade facilitation; insufficient capacity and ineffective operational model at both the port terminal and the hinterland transport channels. This should cut delays and remove existing non–tariff barriers along the northern corridor.

Sorting out inefficiencies in the operations of the current terminal and expanding Mombasa’s capacity is important to the East African Community.

Kenya’s ultimate aim is to secure a geostrategic position as the key access to the Indian Ocean for the economic zone straddling the Nile Basin countries — an achievement Tanzania, too, eyeing.

READ: Competition ignites multi-billion dollar port projects in the region

Under the charter, all institutions dealing with operations at the port and along the corridor including the Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards, will be guided by key performance indicators.

“Past attempts to address some of the challenges that the port has experienced have focused on KPA as an institution and wrongly excluded other statutory bodies, as well as the private sector players who are an important part of trade facilitation,” said Justus Nyarandi, KPA general manager.

“The charter will establish a permanent basis of collaboration that will bind the port users to specific actions, collective obligations under set targets and timelines,” said Mr Nyarandi noting that along the most efficient trade corridors, transport costs make up only four per cent of the cost of goods. But constraints at the Port of Mombasa and along the northern corridor drive transport costs to an estimated 30 per cent.

The draft port charter has set six broad goals that include transforming Mombasa port into a high-performing landlord port by 2016.

The document also sets a target of achieving an average of 120,000kms coverage per truck per annum. Growth in cargo offtake by rail is expected to rise above 30 per cent of throughput by June 2016 while increasing liquid bulk holding capacity to 11,000,000 MT by December 2014.

The blueprint seeks also to integrate all port users’ systems into the Kenya National Electronic Single Window System by December. 

“The charter will accelerate the realisation of the potential of the Mombasa corridor and spur the region’s economic growth, by benchmarking itself against the most successful trade channels in the world,” said Chris Kiptoo, TradeMark East Africa, Kenya country representative.

“The set goals are expected will see the port transform into a high performing landlord port by 2016 like the Rotterdam Port, achieve an average of 120,000 Kms per Truck per Annum by December 2016 compared to the average 150,000kms/truck/year, grow cargo off take by rail to above 35 per cent of throughput by December 2018 like Durban- Johannesburg Corridor.

“This transformation will not only create room for specialized service providers, but also enable KPA to focus on infrastructural adjustments and long term developments, enabling it to handle the projected growth in cargo throughput ahead of demand,” noted Dr Kiptoo.

The Single Electronic Window System, whose first phase was rolled out in October by Kenya, will be recast to ensure that EAC revenue authority systems are integrated to allow for information sharing and to facilitate the release of cargo at the first point of entry.

“Currently, a number of modules dealing with the lodgement of pre-clearance documents, such as licences, permits, import declaration forms, sea and air manifests, integration with the KRA and the national payment gateway, have been successfully rolled out,” said Alex Kabuga, chief executive officer of the Kenya Trade Network Agency which is charged with implementing the electronic single window system.

The masterplan adds to Kenya’s effort to control trade in the region. Already, the country is constructing a second container terminal at the port

The $327 million terminal is expected to increase Mombasa’s container handling capacity from the current 771,000 to 1.2 million containers, and help reduce the clogging that has forced some port users to move to Dar es Salaam.

READ: New Mombasa terminal ‘ahead of schedule’

The port’s container handling capacity is currently overstretched — largely because of a sharp rise in imports into Kenya and the region. The port also serves Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo, Burundi and South Sudan.