Lamu Port project on track as first three of 23 berths completed
The 294 metre-long MV Seago Peraus docks at Lamu Port with 100 units destined for Zanzibar last August.
Operations at Lamu Port are yet to start, five months after the completion of Phase One, which involved the construction of the first three berths and associated infrastructure to handle container, general and bulk cargo.
According to data from the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), less than 2,000 containers have been handled at the port since the first berth was opened for business in May last year. The delay in the start of operations in berths two and three was blamed on insecurity and completion of key infrastructure supporting the port.
However, in a recent communication, KPA said it was ready and was waiting for President Uhuru Kenyatta and heads of state from Ethiopia and South Sudan, which will be key users, to set a commissioning date. According to KPA data, the port has only handled 1,619 containers through transshipment (where containers are shipped to an intermediate destination, then to another).
According to KPA General Manager Vincent Sidai, the second and third berths will start operations soon. In total, the three berths cost the national government Sh40 billion.
Mr Sidai noted that other auxiliary infrastructure that have been completed and are operational are container yards, warehouse, operations office, and fire station, among others.
“Discussions are under way to determine the exact date for the ceremonial event, but currently, the berths are already operational,” said Mr Sidai.
Each berth has a depth of 17.5 metres and is 400 metres long. The three berths are designed to handle container, general, and bulk cargo.
The Coast regional manager of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) Corridor, Mr Salim Bunu, termed the completion of the two additional berths as a milestone for the project. Lamu Port is the anchor project in the entire Lapsset project.
Lapsset is meant to link the three states via rail, airports, roads and oil pipelines.
Once complete, the Sh310-billion facility could become eastern Africa’s largest seaport with 23 berths, and will likely be the regional transshipment hub, in the face of growing competition from Tanzania. The Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania has 11 berths, while Mombasa port, just 240km south of Lamu, has 19 berths.
On May 20, 2021, President Kenyatta visited Lamu and operationalised the first berth at the port site in Kililana.This is after the first ship, the MV CAP Carmel, with general cargo from the Port of Dar es Salaam docked at the Lamu Port on its way to Salalah in Oman. The completed first three berths at the Lamu Port were constructed by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
The government is set to hand over the remaining berths to private sector investors for financing, construction, and operation. KPA says it is ready to handle any vessel at Lamu Port after it installed cargo handling machines, including Panamax and post-Panamax vessels with a capacity of more than 10,000 containers.
Kenya is also planning to use the Lamu port in exporting livestock to the Middle East by next year. Livestock Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai said the government had set aside Sh500 million for the construction of a livestock facility at the port.
