The Port of Mombasa is projected to handle 1.8 million TEUs by the end of the year 2024.

KPA Managing Director Capt. William Ruto, on Saturday evening highlighted the port’s impressive performance, announcing that it had surpassed 1 million TEUs, reaching a total of 1,003,208 TEUs by yesterday.

Ruto, who was speaking at the Port of Mombasa during the inaugural visit of MV Ever Vim, a vessel owned by the Evergreen Shipping Line, attributed this success to the port's modernization efforts, a dedicated workforce, and enhanced operational efficiency.

In 2023, the port handled 1.6 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), a significant increase from the 1.45 million TEUs recorded in 2022.

"Our projections as a port this year is that we are targeting to do 1.8 million TEUS which is more than ten per cent growth compared to what we handled last year,” said Ruto

The KPA MD also announced that the port set a new performance record in the month of May, by handling 176,000 Teus, which translates to about 6,000 Teus per day.

The staller performance coupled with reduced waiting and turn-around time he said have increased confidence among globally renowned shipping lines to consider using Mombasa port as their port of choice.

“The presence of this vessel underscores the growing confidence that major shipping lines have in the Port of Mombasa. Evergreen are among the top users of our port and we recently welcomed MV EVER VOW, a vessel from the same shipping line, further solidifying our position as a preferred port of call,” he said.

The 3110-TEU capacity vessel is built with green shipping technology and is expected to discharge 2,499 TEUs and load about 2,700 Teus..

The ship’s particulars include a length overall of 209.8 meters, a draft of 11.5 meters and a gross tonnage of 35,697.

During the event, Capt. Ruto presented a certificate of first call to the captain of the vessel Liang Wei, acknowledging the vessel's maiden arrival.

Amr Abdesalam, Evergreen Line headquarter Representative lauded the efficiency at the port of Mombasa saying that this has contributed to them bringing in more vessels to Mombasa.

He said that as shipping line they have no doubt that their vessels are not only safe in Kenya, but the operations are also very efficient.

"We are happy with using this port of Mombasa because it is the best in Africa. This is not coming by chance but due to hard work”

“The performance of the port speaks volume, initially we could wait for five days or more but now has reduced to less than two,” he said.