MOMBASA

Mombasa is located on the southeastern coast of Kenya (full name: THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA) on the island of Mombasa. It is connected to the mainland by a railway bridge and seawall, and is situated on the west side of the Indian Ocean. It is the largest port in Kenya and one of the largest ports in East Africa. As early as over 3000 years ago, this was an important trading port, and Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty in China also visited it. The port is the industrial and commercial center of East Africa, with major industries including oil refining, textiles, ship repair, cement and agricultural product processing. Most of the foreign trade goods from Kenya and Uganda, as well as some goods from Rwanda, Tanzania, eastern Zaire, and southern Sudan, are transshipped here. Mombasa International Airport has regular flights to destinations around the world. The port has a tropical grassland climate, with prevailing southeast winds. The annual average temperature is about 24 degrees, and the annual average rainfall is about 1200mm. The average tidal range is about 1.8m. There are 16 main dock berths in the port area, with a shoreline length of 2343 meters and a maximum water depth of 13.4 meters. There are various types of loading and unloading equipment, including shore cranes, mobile cranes, gantry cranes, container cranes, grab bucket cranes, tire mobile cranes, and roll on/roll off facilities. The maximum lifting capacity for containers is 40 tons. The port area has a transfer shed area of 92000 square meters, as well as cold storage and freight yards. The maximum reliable berthing capacity of the dock is 65000 deadweight tons of ships. In 1992, the container throughput reached 135000 TEUs. The main export goods are ivory, leather, fiber, cotton, tea, dried coconut, coffee, wood, syrup, meat and dairy products, etc. The imported goods mainly include machinery, vehicles, textiles, grain, building materials, food, sugar and industrial products. During holidays and Christmas, ports are usually closed. Homework can be arranged on other holidays, but overtime pay must be paid. Mombasa Port is located in the central part of the east coast of Africa, and there are almost no major ports north until the Red Sea. To the south, only Durban Port can rival it, making it the largest port on the east coast of Africa. The conditions of Mombasa Port are second to none among many ports in East Africa. The port has 21 berths of over 10000 tons, with a draft of over 9.45 meters and 24-hour navigation. Among them, berths 16, 17, and 18 are dedicated to containers, with a draft of 10.45 meters and 4 40 ton container cranes. When there is a shortage of dedicated berths, the adjacent No.14 bulk cargo berth is also used for loading and unloading containers. The front yard of the container port area has dedicated railways that directly connect to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya, and Canberra, the capital of Uganda. Container trains are dispatched to Nairobi every day. The Mombasa Port Authority has CFS yards in Nairobi, Cthulhu, and Canberra. In addition, there are "door-to-door" road intermodal transportation services from Mombasa to Rwanda and Burundi. According to incomplete statistics, Mombasa Port imports and exports approximately 150000 to 200000 TEUs of containers annually, which is about 3 to 4 times the import and export volume of neighboring ports. At present, the shipping companies operating intercontinental container shipping routes in East Africa mainly include Maersk Line, Tiehang Zhahua, Yixing, Mediterranean Shipping, Mitsui Mercantile, Japan Post, US President, and Taiping Shipping. The above-mentioned shipping companies provide weekly or even weekly services, with direct routes to Europe, Asia, and the United States, while FEEDER shipping company, which operates coastal liners in East Africa, has more. COSCO opened container shipping routes from the Far East to East and South Africa from early 1995 to the end of 1997, which had a certain impact on the East African region. Later, due to route adjustments, they switched to feeder services. In addition, SINOTASHIP also provides container import and export services from the Far East, Gulf region to East Africa. Due to historical reasons, almost all countries in East Africa, except for Kenya, have a very low level of economic development in the world. These countries have weak national industrial foundations, and agriculture plays a major role in the national economy, serving as a pillar of the economy. For a long time, the former colonial powers have used their influence to dump their surplus products into Africa, importing a wide range of container goods from Mombasa Port, from cars to kerosene lamps, hardware, plastic sandals, and even second-hand clothing. The main products it can export are coffee, tea, sisal, pyrethrum, flowers, and spices. The main flow of the above-mentioned goods is Europe and the United States. Our country also exports a large amount of goods to Africa every year to support the national independence movements of African countries and assist the African people. According to incomplete statistics, China's total trade with Kenya in 1997 was 150 million US dollars, while Kenya's average annual exports to China were only 2 million US dollars. The imbalance between imports and exports has resulted in a large number of containers being transported back to the air. The Mombasa Port Authority has two principles for arranging container ship berthing operations, namely the first come, first served berthing principle and the ship priority principle of the shipping association. The main principle is based on the first principle, but it may cause some inconvenience to non liner shipping companies. The second principle is used as a "shield". Due to the fact that Mombasa Port is the largest port in East Africa, port operations are congested, and container berth loading and unloading operations are mainly focused on heavy containers. If a ship only loads and unloads empty containers, it is usually arranged to work at other available bulk cargo berths. When loading and unloading containers at container berths, specialized bridge cranes operate at a faster speed, especially in the cooperation between the Mombasa Port Container Company and the Felixstowe Port Authority in the UK. After adopting the "pay for work" method for loading and unloading operations, each operating line and shift can load and unload an average of about 100 TEUs. Generally, the operation can be completed within 24 hours after the ship docks. However, if the vessel is arranged to load and unload at the bulk cargo berth, each work line and shift can only operate a maximum of about 20 TEUs. The Mombasa Port Authority has CFS yards in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Canberra, which originally created favorable conditions for container sea rail intermodal transportation. Shippers and receivers in these areas can handle consignment and pick-up customs clearance locally. However, the Port Authority and the railway transportation company are "railway police", each responsible for their own section. Various cumbersome procedures, endless excuses and evasions, have added endless troubles and waste to the originally very advantageous intermodal transportation. The main reason is the lack of transportation capacity, as railways do not carry empty containers. In this way, it has caused greater difficulties for the return of containers, and the advantages of sea rail intermodal transportation have been completely lost, resulting in the majority of containers at Mombasa Port being transported by road. The only main external highway from Mombasa to Nairobi is filled with long queues of truck transport vehicles flowing day and night. Therefore, there is still a long way to go for Mombasa Port to achieve significant development.