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Category: Diaspora News

Written by Kim

Congestion at the Mombasa port is hurting tea exports leading to loss of key markets, the East African Tea Trade Association chairman Peter Kimanga said yesterday.

Kimanga said at the moment a lot of tea cargo is held up at the port because the ships cannot offload or load. He said this has made it difficult for exporters to purchase more tea from farmers since the traders are not paid before the tea is shipped.

KImanga said some ships at the port have been waiting for more than 10 days and as a result most tea which was bought in December has not been exported. “When tea is loaded into the ship is when we are paid. If we are not paid, we are not able to purchase more tea and this has affected us greatly,” he said.

The chairman noted that it is very expensive to manage ships a fact which might make ship owners to avoid the Kenyan port. ” If they know that one port is slow, their ships do not stop at the port leading to abandonment of Kenyan tea at our port,”he said. Kimanga cautioned that if the Kenyan tea will not be exported in time, potential tea markets might prefer doing businesses with other tea producing countries.

He also said that tea farmers will also suffer unless the problem is addressed. He said quick ways of handling and clearing cargo at the bought need to be used to decongest the port and that tea exports should be given preferential treatment to avoid excessive scrutiny of containers which is slowing down the process. Kimanga also urged the government to fast track construction of the Lamu port to help decongest Mombasa port.

The KPA public relations officer, Haji Masemo, said there is always congestion at the port during holidays because most people abandon their cargo during the festive season. He said that they have issued notices to clients to pick their cargo. “In January, there is a lot of cargo at the port. It is not the mistake of the management. But, as the port, we are working hard to improve service delivery,” he said.