A crane discharging cargo at Mombasa port. PHOTO/FILE.
By Andrew Mwangura
The ongoing congestions, delays and inefficiencies at the sea ports of Durban, Dar Es Salaam and Djibouti can be a blessing in disguise. They provide a good opportunity for us, ports stakeholders, to invest in advanced technology, equipment and human capacity.
Port congestion is a major challenge faced by many ports globally and can occur due to various reasons such as over booked container terminal in excess of the capacity of the port; lack of port handling equipment; lack of yard space ; vessel bunching ; and hinterland connections.
Kenyan maritime sector needs thorough overhaul to take it up a notch high.
The causes of port congestion are varied and complicated, but some of the most recent major issues include chassis shortage, inclement weather, industrial action, labor shortages, customs slowdowns, and spikes in demand.
Different factors trigger congestion in ports. However, the type, extent and dimension of causative factors for Port congestion also differ from port to port. In the same way, the implications of these undesirable congestion drivers also vary from port to port.
As stated above typical causes of congestion in sea ports include amongst others: bad weather that stops ships or cargo operations; accidents that could suddenly damage port equipment or ship entry route; industrial action that entails work stoppage at the port, labor strike or limitation of stevedoring services; and sudden increase or peak in trade demand.
Other causes are surge in international trade on certain articles or between certain countries or regions; and land side transport congestion that could slow down the evacuation and delivery of cargo out of the port, thereby blocking the discharge of more cargo as storage capacity is exhausted or overstretched.
Other kinds of congestion prevalent in African ports include congestion on the shipping lane/route that connects ships to the port. In Africa we categorize port congestions in six categories:
The first is ship berth congestion, mainly caused by bunching of ships waiting on the port entry routes as a result of other ships said to have occupied the available berth designated or likely to be allocated to the waiting traffic.
The second one is ship work congestion, mainly caused by delays attributable to lapses in the procedure for work on loading and / or unloading the ship, which could result in stoppages that could elongate the period of time the ship had to remain in port to accomplish the cargo operation task.
The third type is vehicle gate congestion, mainly resulting from poor programming of landward access to the port via trucks scheduled arrivals at the port gate.
If impediments or programming defaults occur, it will instantaneously send queuing signals to trucks coming into or out of the port gate for delivery or evacuation of cargo. This results in port gate congestion.
Fourthly we have vehicle work congestion, mainly resulting from lapses associated with loading or unloading of vehicle and trucks either due to lack of requisite equipment or due to low efficiency at which vehicle work is delivered.
Fifthly there is cargo stacks congestion, mainly emanating from continuous stay of cargo at the storage area beyond reasonable hours/days or above the maximum capacity of the cargo stacking area.Â
Lastly we have ship entry / exit route congestion, arise mainly when there is any circumstantial blockade on the marine side access routes to the port facility. Such blockade could lead to queuing, bunching and ultimately overstay of ships around the port facility.
Congestion in ports is phenomena associated with delays, queuing and extra time of voyage and dwell of ships and cargo at the port, which always occur with unpleasant consequences on Logistics and supply chain.
Loose cargo being handled at Mombasa port. PHOTO/FILE.
These often translate into extra costs, loss of trade and disruption of trade and transport agreements. The bane of congestion in African ports emanates entirely from either planning, regulation, capacity, efficiency or a combination of these.
Instead of political interference Mombasa and other African ports should enhance their regulatory mechanisms, then to improve capacity and efficiency level in order to shoulder the ever increasing challenges of port congestion in years ahead.
Transporting goods by sea remains the most common way to trade globally, but in Africa cargo spends an abnormally long time in ports before it is moved inland, presenting a serious obstacle to the successful integration of sub-Saharan economies in worldwide trade networks.
The average cargo waiting time in African sea ports is 20 days which means more than half of the time needed to transport cargo from ports to hinterland cities in landlocked countries in sub-Saharan Africa is wasted because of the time cargo spends in ports.
Dwell time is the time cargo remains in a terminal’s in-transit storage areas while awaiting shipment for export or onward transportation by road or rail to the hinterland as import.
Dwell time is one indicator of a port’s efficiency. The higher the dwell time, the lower the efficiency. And longer dwell times results into inefficiencies relating to port congestion and can have an adverse effect on economic growth.
There’s also a need for Kenyan government to offer a home port to Ethiopia National Shipping Line at the Lamu port. Ethiopia has a direct coastal access through a 750 km long railway linking Addis Ababa to the port city of Djibouti.
ENSL owns and operates 14 foreign ocean-going merchant vessels comprised of 12 cargo ships and 2 container ships. Ethiopian Maritime Training Institute (EMTI) trains more than 500 Officers annually, and is now looking to increase that number to 1,000 marine deck officers and marine engineers.
A vessel’s home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship’s hull. As a home port ENSL will take on/change crew, while taking ship stores, fresh water supply and bunkers at the Lamu port.
With special arrangements with the Maritime Education and Training Institutions in Kenya, the ENSL vessels can offer cadet berths for Kenyan cadets. At present Ethiopia’s imports and exports mainly pass via the port of Djibouti. Reliance on Djibouti has proved costly and unstanstainable.
Even though Djibouti is the nearest port to the landlocked Ethiopia the price remains expensive, compared to ports located further like Port Sudan and Lamu port. Djibouti which has over seven main ports and terminals is more expensive than Port of Sudan, Massawa, Assab, Berbera, Mombasa, Lamu, Tanga, Dar Es Salaam, Mogadishu, Maputo and Beira.
There are currently 48 countries that are completely surrounded by at least one other country.
There’s also a need to fast track the Mombasa and Lamu SEZ’s shopping Centre, Taveta Dry Port, Miritini Industrial Park and Lamu Industrial park. The move would attract important foreign investments such as the Renault-Nissan Group and Toyota Group. Another strategy is to introduce Tax holidays for investors, and also to come up with a supporting policy on Cabotage law and Open sky policy.
Mwangura is a Public Intellectual at Nautical Advisory Services.
