Kenya is hoping to complete the second container terminal at the Port of Mombasa sooner than earlier announced, after the contractors, Japanese Port Consultants, announced they are ahead of schedule by nearly a year.

If achieved, this will give businesses a reprieve, as it will further reduce delays in clearance of goods.

The terminal was to be completed in March 2016, but Kenya Ports Authority managing director Gichiri Ndua said it will now be ready by September 2015.

Kenya has been racing to improve its cargo handling facility, after delays led transporters to look for alternatives, diverting some business to the Dar es Salaam port.

In June, KPA said the works on the first phase of the terminal were 34 per cent complete. Japan, through the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica), has committed about $300 million to the project under the Special Terms of Economic Partnership at an interest rate of 0.2 per cent per annum to be repaid in 40 years, with a grace period of 10 years.

The Kenya government will contribute $66 million, which includes compensation to people displaced by the project.

The terminal is being constructed on 100 hectares of reclaimed land and will have three berths.

When the first phase is completed, it will result in an additional capacity of 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (teu). The second and third phases will be completed by 2020, adding another 750,000 teus.

The new terminal will handle 1.2 million teu, slightly above the current capacity of the port, which is 900,000 teu.

The first phase involves the construction of two berths for post-Panama vessels of 60,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) — the weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry — and Panama container ships of 20,000 DWT, as well as a smaller berth.