WASHINGTON: The Mombasa Port expansion programme has enabled the facility to accommodate bigger vessels, the management has said. Since 2012, the facility has been receiving some of the largest and the longest ships to have ever called in the country, enabling the port achieve its vision- Becoming a world class seaport of choice. In February this year, the port management opened the second container terminal after completion of the first phase. On April 25, the second container terminal received its first ever ship.
The facility, which now boasts being among the top 120 container ports in the world, last year handled 1.076 million Total Equivalent Units (TEUs-unit measure for 40-foot containers).
According to Kenya Ports Authority managing director Catherine Mturi, KPA is happy that the port is now ranked 112 globally. Last Monday, the port received the longest ever ship to call at the port of Mombasa, MV Ital Mattina. “The second container terminal has 10 ship-to-shore cranes, a very high crane concentration on the 840 metres, to give us high productivity,” Mturi said. MV Ital Mattina, operated by Evergreen Shipping Line, has an overall length of 264 metres.
