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- The Mombasa port and The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) have been competing with each other by offering incentives to maintain existing business and also attract new business
- Recently the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), extended container free periods for transit traffic at the Mombasa port which was followed by The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) waiving off 100 per cent port storage charges
The Mombasa port and The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) have been competing with each other by offering incentives to maintain existing business and also attract new business. The competition between the two ports have been getting hotter in the last two months with both introducing a number of incentives and promotional tariffs.
Recently the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), extended container free periods for transit traffic at the Mombasa port which was followed by The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) waiving off 100 percent port storage charges, targeting Rwandan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) cargo. To counter that the Kenya Maritime Authority on July 1 extended the container free periods for transit traffic at the Port of Mombasa and along the Northern Corridor for as long as the Covid-19 pandemic challenges persist.
Responding to the offers, a spokesman of the Rwanda business community said that the convenience and lower costs will be the deciding factors for the choice of the corridor. Importers point out that though the cargos were allowed to leave the ports without levying fees, the movement and clearance of the caro is hindered by the formalities associated with the Covid-19 testing.
According to a Survey by the East Africa Logistics, the average cost of transporting a 40-foot container from Mombasa to Nairobi dropped to $1,000 last year instead of $ 1,300 in 2011. The same container cost from Mombasa to Kampala came down to $2,500 from $3,400 in the same period. As of now, Mombasa is the cheapest entry point for goods into the region.
