AFRICA

KPA invests $25m in IT at Mombasa

22 years ago

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is investing heavily in upgrading both the leading import-export port of Mombasa and the socalled Northern Corridor which links it with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo.

Cappuccinos on the deck at Pier 35 in view of Coode Island chemical storage facility Immigrants disembarking at Melbourne, 1910 Vancouver Port offers a model for long-term planning to incorporate community concerns

Significantly, $25.09m has been spent on upgrading IT provision, with 6,000 new computers acquired and nearly 80% of KPA’s 6,900 employees put through training courses.

By 2005, all information will be routed and stored via an EDI link, with the lack of paper transactions cutting out delays and hopefully slowing a loss of traffic to neighbouring Dar es Salaam. By reducing the need to verify all cargo, transit times for containers from Mombasa to Uganda should be reduced from 45 days to 5-10 days.

Container handling facilities have also been given a boost thanks to the injection of $75.28m in new equipment which has raised the initial capacity of the port to 500,000TEUs, although KPA eventually aims to route 1m TEUs through the port.