Withdrawal of rail locomotives sparks the pile-up
THE WITHDRAWAL of ten South African locomotives hired by Kenya Railways five years ago has resulted in unprecedented import cargo congestion at the port of Mombasa.
By the start of this week there were more than 7 000 boxes piled up at the Mombasa Container Terminal, with another 1060 boxes in the roro area of the port. The terminal has capacity for 4000 containers.
Kenya Railways' Coast regional manager, James Nyambari, said the situation had been aggravated by another move by a task force committee set up by the government to address regular cases of train derailment. This had resulted in the withdrawal of some 200 'sick wagons' for rehabilitation.
These 'sick wagons' were converted into flat tops by private companies for container traffic and are suspected to be the main cause of the derailments, he said.
Florent van Burkom, the managing director of Aseco, local agents for the Safmarine Container Lines, said a large volume of South African import cargo was stranded at the Mombasa port due to the current pile up.
It is not easy to say exactly how many boxes are caught up in this mess but it must be substantial considering the high demurage fees being paid by our clients. said Van Burkom
This means the import containers are not being turned in within the stipulated grace period.
He said the withdrawal of the ten locomotives hired by the Kenya government from Spoornet in 1994 would have a negative impact on rail movement.
By George Sunguh
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