Contract requires Kenya Ports Authority to provide 1 mil tonnes of cargo yearly. FMTNews
Kenya Ports Authority says rail cargo is expected to hit 5 mil tonnes this year.
These importers used to truck their goods in from the coast. But port authorities now say businesses based in Nairobi and upcountry must use the new line because the Mombasa port is contracted to supply it with a minimum amount of cargo. “The vast majority of its overseas spending has no detectable effect on economic growth,” said Bradley Sparks, executive director of AidData, a research facility that tracks development finance at William and Mary university in Virginia.Last year, it agreed to restructure more than US$12 billion in repayments owed by Ethiopia, whose Chinese-funded railway is also struggling.
Mombasa is projected to handle 34 million tonnes of cargo this year; most does not go by rail. Cargo destined for Mombasa, or countries other than Kenya, can still go by road. Moving a 40-foot container to Nairobi by rail costs 80,000 shillings – roughly the same as a truck, said Mercy Ireri, chief operations officer for the Kenya Transporters Association.
Kenya Railways did not respond to requests for comment. The China Road and Bridge Corporation, which built the railway and now runs it through its Kenya subsidiary Africa Star Operations, said it did not set policy on cargo.The new line opened in 2017. Running alongside a dilapidated track British colonialists built a century ago, it cut the Nairobi-Mombasa journey to four hours from 12 for passengers and to eight hours from 24 for cargo.
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