KPA begins night pilotage of oil tankers after meeting requirements

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) on Friday night made its first-night pilotage service to petroleum tanker vessels since its inception after meeting required international security standards.

KPA managing director Captain William Ruto navigated MV Spetses Lady - Singapore from the new Kipevu Oil Terminal at midnight which will play a key role in reducing vessel waiting time by 12 hours saving demurrage charges of about $25-50  per day.

“The Port of Mombasa has never provided night pilotage services to petroleum tanker vessels since inception. However, this service is availed to all other vessels,” said Captain Ruto.

“The prohibition was necessitated by various risks and which the authority has over the years invested in appropriate infrastructures and resources to reduce the risks to acceptable operating levels and which could be aggravated during night pilotage.”

He added, "Night pilotage is indeed a game changer as tanker turn-around time will greatly improve as there will be a reduction in vessel waiting time thus the port will be able to handle more vessels translating into an increase in revenue which will contribute towards Port of Mombasa achieving a World class port of choice for tankers."

Mr Ruto said dredging and widening of the channel, installation and maintenance of appropriate aids to navigation, acquisition of modern tugboats and training and professional development of marine pilots have attributed to Mombasa Port given greenlight to do night oil vessel pilotage.

"At the ultra-modern and state-of-the-art Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) II which is fitted with Berthing Aid System and improvement in lighting at oil terminals contributed to positive risk assessments," said the MD.

Liquid bulk is certainly key in the port throughput, where last year, Mombasa Port handled 9.1 million metric tonnes of bulk liquid, accounting for 27 percent of the total throughput.

"The demand forecast for 2023/24 based on the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.4 percent is 9.2 million metric tonnes and it on Uganda Oil Production," said the MD.

At the same time, KPA has begun implementing radical measures aimed at improving services to Mombasa people at the Mombasa port starting July 1st.

Starting this month, KPA has ceased to open and operate ledger guarantee accounts or credit accounts and will start rendering services only through bank cheques and other bank payment systems including real-time gross settlement (RTGS) adding that all customers with guarantee ledger accounts will automatically convert to cheque deposits beginning July 1.

Captain Ruto said the move will streamline and improve operational efficiency but it will cease to render port services on a credit basis as some traders misused it.

According to sources within KPA, some of the customers' accounts have had unpaid debts and were operating way above bank guarantee’s limit while some had their invoices aged over 30 days which is against the authority’s credit policy 2021 which stipulates that invoices should settle within 6 days from the date of invoicing.

There are a number of benefits of having a ledge account with KPA as it reduces the need for traders to carry cash every time you process a document, it allows traders to up to a six-day credit period and allows port users to reconcile transactions effectively.

At the same time, all export cargo that will not be logged into the Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) and Kilindini Waterfront Automated Terminal Operations Systems (KWATOS) at their time of acceptance will not be approved for export by the government beginning July this year

In a public notice, exporters will first have to be logged into the systems at the time of acceptance and their approval declared as KPA, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and other government agencies work towards a zero long stay containers policy at the port.

“In bid to enhance service delivery and improve customer experience at the rt of Mombasa with effect 3rd July 2023, all except cargo brought to the port for shipment must have relevant online approved permits on Kenya Trade Network Agency (Kentrade) portal. Non-compliant cargo will not be accepted into the port,” read a joint notice by KPA and KRA.

Customers have further been reminded that the closure of the acceptance period for export cargo into port strictly closes 24 hours prior to the berthing of booked vessel.

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