mombasa port field visit

8/9/2019 Mombasa Port Field Visit

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Abstract

The following is the report prepared after a visit to the port of Mombasa to collect

analyze and present data on the operations of the port. The data collection methods

included observation, oration (From authorized personnel) and a brief interview in

order to achieve both qualitative and quantitative data. The triangulation aspect of

research was employed. The obective of this study was to establish how the port of

Mombasa operates, and why there are delays in the clearing of cargo.


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Report for Mombasa Field Visit at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA)

Background Information

!n the "thday of March #$%#, as partial ful&llment of the requirements of the &eld

study class, we visited the 'enya orts uthority (') base in Mombasa, 'enya to

establish how the port of Mombasa operates and its importance to 'enya and other

states via a vis how it shapes or a*ects the course of international relations from a

state centric perspective.

Introduction

!n the said date, we were not able to ma+e it on time and we delayed a bit, but our

instructor managed to negotiate such that even though we did not arrive on the

scheduled time, there still was an authorized ocial from the ublic -elations

department to facilitate our visit.

The authorized ocial who welcomed us introduced herself as Miss. aumu /aelli,and further communicated that she was to ta+e us through the session and would

respond to all our questions about matters that appertain to the port.

To ma+e matters clear, Miss aumu started by informing us that the ort of

Mombasa consists of many parastatals, such as 'enya -evenue uthority ('-),

'enya orts uthority ('), 'enya 0ureau of tatistics ('0), and 'enya lant

1nspectory ('1).

A historical perspective

To gain a more broad understanding of the port, she advised that it is better for oneto perceive the port of Mombasa as a big pot containing many di*erent and small

pots. The small pots being the one2s mentioned above, li+e '- and '1.

!n the historical perspective, we were informed that the port of Mombasa was

started by e3plorers in the pre4colonial era, and that at &rst it was located ne3t to

Fort 5esus and that was in %667. 8ater on, the port was moved from Fort 5esus to its

present day location because of the depth of its present location, which is %9.:

meters.

t the time of its inception, the port of Mombasa was managed by ;ast frican

"6 at the collapse of the ;ast frican

=ommunity (;=) when ' now started to manage it.

aumu was +een to emphasize that in sea transport you loo+ at depth. second

factor that led to the shift of the port was also natural harbor, the area where the

port of Mombasa is situated is a natural harbor and then its pro3imity to the airport

played a maor role. aumu e3plained that it is essential for a port to be ne3t to all


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modes of transport that is road, air and rail so as to facilitate a smooth movement

of goods.

fter some bac+ground information about the port, the ne3t issue to tac+le was the

mandate conferred upon the 'enya orts uthority (')

Mandate of KPA

?rawing from aumu2s e3planation, the mandate of the ' includes ta+ing care of

all the ports in 'enya, that it the ort of 8amu, The port of 'iunga, the ort of

Malindi and ort -iz. Further on the responsibility of the ' also e3tends to

handling of all cargo at the ports, including loading and o@oading of cargo from the

ships.

Handling of Cargo

The handling of cargo or the mandate of ' as far as the handling of cargo is

concerned involves loading and o@oading cargo. This is done using the cranes thatare stationed in the %6 berths at the port of Mombasa. They are deep water berths,

and by them being %6 in number they translate to that the port of Mombasa can

handle %6 ships at a go. This is quite a huge capacity compared to the port of ?ar4

es4alaam which has only %% deep water berths.

To ma+e cargo handling easier, the berths are divided according to specialization.

Berth 1 and 2

0erth % and # usually handles the car carrier ships and cruise ships in the event

they visit the port of Mombasa. The pea+ season for cruise ships to visit the port isusually between March and !ctober. fter enquiring about the average number of

cruise ships that usually visit the country, we were informed that it2s about A$, but

because of the security concerns at the omali coast, especially piracy and

terrorism, the &gure has dropped drastically. ince ?ecember #" th, only one cruise

ship has visited the country.

aumu informed us that it ta+es about one hour to settle a ship on a berth, and that

maority of the people who usually visit in the cruise ship are old people, usually

over 7$ years, even some wal+ with o3ygen mas+s, too frail with age.

Berth 3

This berth was introduced as the Bfamous grain handlers. 1t is in this berth that bul+

grain is handled. The other specialized government organs involved here are the

'enya lant 1nspectors ('1) and 'enya 0ureau of tandards ('0). The role of these

bodies is to sample the grain, test it in the laboratories and then after con&rming

and ascertaining that all is o+ay, they give the ' the go ahead to o@oad the

grain. Maize is usually o@oaded using a conveyor belt that suc+s from the ship at


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the rate of 7$$ tones an hour. t this point, aumu made it clear that it is not the

responsibility of the ' to determine whether the grains are &t or not and entry of

any grain deemed un&t for human consumption is not the fault of the '. -ecall

that the mandate of the ' is to load and o@oad cargo.

Berth !"#

These berths are classi&ed as general cargo berths, and in the instance that berths

% and # are occupied, they can handle carrier ships.

0erths A4" can handle cargo that is in containers or cargo that is not pac+ed in

containers.


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levied for the inconvenience caused and time wasted loading and o@oading the

containers.

'eri(cation of Cargo

ll cargo that gets into the country has to be authorized and certi&ed. The process

was e3plained as outlined below, with the case in point of co*ee. !nce a container

with co*ee has been o@oaded, 'enya -evenue uthority ('-) and not ' does

the veri&cation of what is inside the container, and it is not the responsibility of '

as widely perceived. This process is usually done through the use of sophisticated

technology. The containers are passed through a one stop &3ed scanner. !cials in

a room are able to determine what is inside the container and in the instance they

suspect something funny, such a container is stripped to verify the contents inside.

The process of stripping a container ta+es about twenty minutes. 1t is a oint process

conducted by '- and ';0 ocials.

Berthing a )hip

ll ships are required to send a manifest at least " days before arrival. This is so in

order to ease the chances of congestion and ma+e adequate preparations. The

manifest is a document containing information about the ship, for e3ample how

many containers it is carrying, how many persons are on board, that is both crew

and others, and such. The average number of containers that ships usually carry

ranges between 9$$$49:$$ containers. fter adequate preparations, a carrier pilot

from ' is sent to the high seas to ferry the ship to berthing, process that is +nown

as pilotage. For this service, the shipping company pays a 'sh.#$, $$$. ar+ing one

ship usually costs around 'shs.9, $$$, $$$, but the longer the ship, the more the

money. The cost is high because of insuranceD one has to be very careful, and the

tag service is compulsory. shipping company is not allowed to tag its own ship.

*he port of Mom+asa is a preferred choice,

aumu informed us that the port of Mombasa is a preferred choice, and defended

her claims thusD it has %6 berths compared to Tanzania which has only 6 berths, the

port of Mombasa is fully computerized as compared to the Tanzanian port which is

now being computerized. Through the use of a computer software called Bcuatos2, it

is possible to +now the ships coming and be able to clear your ship online. This form

of computerization has played a maor role easing congestion and reducing

instances of corruption. !f that the port of Mombasa is congested, it meant that

business was good. The port of Mombasa was said to be a port of choice because it

serves many countries, 6 in number that isD 'enya, -wanda, Eganda, udan, outh

udan, ;thiopia, and 0urundi and =had. The above mentioned countries rely heavily

on imports and this in e*ect has forced the port to operate beyond its capacity. The

increasing demand obliged the port of Mombasa to reclaim part of the sea to come


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up with two more berths. 1n the newly launched program, the port of 8amu was

e3pected when complete to be having 9# berths.

The biggest disappointment for the ort of Mombasa as aumu claimed was '-,

';0, The -ailway, and the Truc+s used to transport =argo. From aumu2s

argument, ' had launched a rapid response initiative to decongest the ort with'- though '- was not responsive. s articulated, after %A days, if a cargo is not

collected, it is '- which auctions and not '.

The reiterate the strategic importance of the ort of Mombasa, aumu informed us

that is compulsory for every diplomat who comes to 'enya to visit ' for

orientation, because he has to secure his or her countries2 interests. The most

recent visitor to the port was the Toyota president, +io Toyoda.

Challenges

The visit was a successD however, we encountered various challenges, such asD the

' ocial mandated to guide and orient us declined to ta+e questions on some

issues, such as the privatization of the port, and also hastened the brie&ng because

she was in a hurry to go to Taveta on an assignment. isiting Taveta meant more

allowances as compared to brie&ng a visiting group on the operation of the port.

The haste with which our guide did the brie&ng also meant that there was no time

for more questions, which would have contributed to more critical analysis of the

information presented. The assertion that other bodies operating at the port were to

be blamed and not ' were not corroborated.

Conclusions

The data presented in this report was collected mainly through observation, oration

and also included aspects of interviews through the questions as+ed. fter some

bac+ground information of the port, a historical perspective of the port, the rest of

the information presented in this report was the analysis of the data collected.

fterwards presented are the challenges encountered during the visit and below are

the proposed recommendations.

-ecommendations

=onsidering the challenges above, the following recommendations were considered

apt to ensuring a more comprehensive study on the port. For a team visiting theport of Mombasa, the forty minutes we were granted are not enough as there is a

lot to learn. minimum of at least two hours is recommended. For a visit to the

port, it is strongly recommended that one visits all governments2 organs or bodies

operating at the port so as to achieve an obective perspective of state of a*airs as

opposed to a subective one. n actual visit to the oces and the various

specialized units for cargo handling is recommended to ma+e the visit more

practical as opposed to theoretical.


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mombasa port field visit

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