It costs about Sh260,000 to ship a 20-foot container from China to Mombasa, and then up to Sh162,500 more just to truck it 480 kilometres to Nairobi. That second number should embarrass every agency that touches a box at our biggest port.

The figures come from the World Bank's Kenya Economic Update released on Wednesday and reported by Kenyans.co.ke and People Daily. The same report places Mombasa 375th out of 403 ports in the 2024 Container Port Performance Index, down from 326th out of 348 in 2022. For the gateway that feeds Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Congo, that is not just a ranking. It is a warning.

The problem is people and processes, not just quay space

On the same day, President William Ruto said the government was ready to unveil plans to expand the port. More capacity is welcome, and KPA says Berth 19B will add about 300,000 TEUs a year, according to ChimpReports. But the World Bank does not say Mombasa is failing mainly because it is small. It points to congestion, multiple cargo inspections, recurrent system downtime, rising fees and management instability.

The Kenya Ports Authority has had five managing directors in a decade, including two acting ones between 2020 and 2023, Kenyans.co.ke notes. No organisation can run a long-term efficiency programme when its leadership changes almost every two years.

The Bank also questions how private container freight stations around the port were licensed, warning that some operations were shaped by connections rather than competition. And it documents claims that officials from several agencies demanded unofficial payments to clear goods. ChimpReports cites one 2022 case in which officers sought Sh220,000 to clear goods worth Sh1.1 million.

Every bribe at the port ends up on your shopping receipt

It is tempting to see this as a problem for importers and shipping lines alone. It is not. The Shippers Council of Eastern Africa estimates logistics make up 35 to 42 per cent of the landed cost of goods, ChimpReports reports. When a container sits for extra days or a clearing agent pays a bribe, the bill lands on the price of cooking oil, spare parts and school books.

Fix the basics before cutting the ribbon

  • Give KPA a substantive managing director on a fixed, performance-based contract and protect the post from political churn.
  • Merge inspections into a single joint check, so that KRA, KEBS and other agencies inspect a container once, not one after another.
  • Publish how every container freight station was licensed, and review licences that cannot stand public scrutiny.
  • Finish the Roadblock Reduction Initiative, which aims to cut police stops on the Mombasa-Malaba route from as many as 27 to no more than five, and publish monthly progress.

A new berth makes a fine photograph. But if the same habits are carried onto new quays, Kenya will simply have built a larger place for containers to wait. Regional neighbours have options. Mombasa must earn their cargo by being clean and fast, not just big.

Photos: Kenya Ports Authority via The Eastleigh Voice; Andrew Thomas (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.