LAPSSET yaonesha dalili zote za kuwa 'White elephant '

LAPSSET yaonesha dalili zote za kuwa 'White elephant '

SHIPPING & LOGISTICS
Slow road construction to Lamu likely to delay full usage of port
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 14:57
BY ANTHONY KITIMO
Lamu port

Construction workers at the second berth of Lamu port in August. The first berth has been completed. Full usage of the port’s berths remains doubtful without a good road connecting to the interior. -FILE
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The delay in the construction of highway infrastructure to feed and evacuate cargo from the new Lamu Port, which is far from ready, might delay the commissioning of the second Kenyan port.

The progress of the construction of the 135-kilometre Lamu-Garsen road, which was awarded to H-Young Contractors in 2016, has been slow with President Uhuru Kenyatta recently making an abrupt visit and insisting on the completion of the road before the launch of the port.

During the awarding of the Sh10.4 billion tender, the contractor requested for security prompting the government to deploy Kenya Defense Forces and a special police unit to provide a safe environment for the workers.

The delay of the road — with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) completing a Sh48 billion dockside project at the port of Lamu in Kililani — has exposed a mismatch of project planning and implementation.

The KPA intends to use the first berth for transshipment until 2022 when rail and road infrastructure is set to be fully completed to haul cargo to neighbouring countries.

KPA head of container operations Edward Opiyo in an earlier statement said they intend to use Lamu Port for transshipment due to lack of laid-down infrastructure.

“We expect to officially launch the first Lamu Port berth this year but it will for transshipment and we expect to add the number of the transshipment cargo and ultimate profits of KPA,” said Mr Opiyo.

He added, “KPA shall increase its profit if transshipment increases since we earn double fees per cargo unlike transit.”
Lamu Port, which is under the ambitious Sh2.5 trillion Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor project once it starts its operations, will host first mother ship with close to 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

The Lapsset corridor project was intended to link Lamu Port to South Sudan via a Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo-Lokichar-Juba highway and to southern parts of Ethiopia via the Isiolo-Moyale road which is already in place. For sustainable business at the new Lamu port the westward-bound highway need to be constructed to make Lamu port more viable.

The constructions of bollard mounting (a vital component in a berth for anchoring ships) has been completed for the first berth as two other berths are set to be completed early next year.

In KPA’s 2018-2047 Master Plan, the authority targets to trade more with Dar Salaam Port and Djibouti Port by investing more in Lamu Port which can host a super post-Panamax vessel due to its wide berths.

The Master Plan recommends a number of guidelines to make the port more attractive to investors and improve its efficiency which include setting up sales and marketing organisations to conduct marketing to attract more ships, setting up water security strategy considering its proximity to Somalia.

The planned launch of the Port next week has since been postponed till next month with promotional tarrifs place by KPA in August to entice shipper to use the facility still stands.

In the advertisement, shipping lines and agents have been offered free 30-day storage period for transshipment and transit cargo compared to the current 14 days in the Mombasa Port.

Domestic cargo has been offered 14-days storage free period while cargo-based charges were slashed by 40 per cent as outlined in Section II and III of the KPA Tarriff 2012.

Coasters carrying transshipment cargo from Lamu to Mombasa will be offered a 40 per cent discount on the cargo handling charges while light dues, port and harbour dues shall be charged once at the first port call in the country, either Lamu or Mombasa.

The promotional tariff is targeting to boost its transship ment business with other east and central African countries.

In the public notice issued by KPA managing director Daniel Manduku, the first berth that consists of 400-metre quay length and 14-metre draft had already been completed and it would be used as a multi-purpose berth.

 
Will east Africa sail off into the sunset with its economy-boosting port projects, or are there clouds on the horizon?
Will east Africa sail off into the sunset with its economy-boosting port projects, or are there clouds on the horizon?

A large container vessel discharges its cargo at the port of Djibouti.
(Alamy/John Warburton-Lee)

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By Maina Waruru
2 December 2019
Explore similar themes
POLITICS & ECONOMYEAST AFRICA-GLOBALTRADETRANSPARENCY AND CORRUPTIONEXPLOITATIONTRANSPORTSDGSLAND RIGHTSINDUSTRYLEGISLATION

From Djibouti to Mozambique, several east African countries are at various stages in the development of ambitious and modern port facilities worth a combined value of over US$20 billion. The first berth of a proposed 32-berth port in the Kenya coastal town of Lamu, for example, is due to open later this month, part of the flagship Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPPSET) Corridor Program, a Chinese-backed economic and transport megaproject which is set to include transportation hubs for rail, highways and international airports.

Meanwhile, in October, Rwanda inaugurated the first phase of Kigali’s first inland port, which will reduce the time and money spent moving goods from the main regional ports of Mombasa and Dar-es-Salam to the hinterland. And the Beijing-based China Merchants Holdings International (CMHI) is currently undergoing tough negotiations with the Tanzanian government over the construction of a US$10 billion port and a special economic zone (SEZ), which, if completed according to the plans, will be the largest port in Africa.

More than 90 per cent of the world’s trade is currently carried out by sea but African trade is beleaguered by poor infrastructure and a lack of transport connectivity; according to a recent report by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, it costs up to 3.5 per cent more to transport a single sea container in Africa than in other regions. This drives up importation costs while making the continent’s exports less competitive on the global market. PwC estimates that a significant improvement in port performance could increase the GDP of sub-Saharan Africa by 2 per cent.
As a result, there is a consensus that Africa’s ports are in desperate need of investment and expansion to usher in the next stage of the continent’s economic growth. But there are concerns over the financing arrangements and business models of many of the proposed projects, as well as land and environmental rights. Some analysts have also questioned whether the country’s hosting the ports will benefit from the projects as much as the countries and entities financing them.
In addition, there are significant concerns over the impact of these projects on national sovereignty. China is now the single largest financier of infrastructure in Africa. According to recent research by Deloitte, China has funded 20 per cent of the continent’s infrastructure projects and is building one in every three. But the loans for these projects – projects which are part of China’s geostrategic Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to improve connectivity between Asia, Europe and Africa via the construction of modern highways, airports, railways and ports – come with stringent conditions. The infrastructure is mostly built by Chinese contractors using Chinese workers and Chinese technology. Aside from the national security implications of this, once projects are operational, China’s involvement can be ongoing: this January alarming news about the nature of asset seizure and confidentiality clauses in the contract of Kenya’s US$3.2 billion Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway project were exposed by the Daily Nation newspaper.

Showdown in Dar es Salaam
Nowhere is the tension between the strategic aims of China and that of the host nation of one of its financed megaprojects more fraught than with Tanzania’s Bagamoyo port. Despite being in the pipeline since 2015, President John Pombe Magufuli has halted the project until CMHI (which had planned to finance the project with Oman’s State General Reserve Fund) agrees to the government’s five demands. They include CMHI taking a 33-year lease to run the facility as opposed to the 99 years originally requested; subjecting CMHI to the same taxation regime as any other investor; and conceding that Tanzania is free to start and operate a new port in competition with Bagamoyo if it deems fit.

According to Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies of the United States Department of Defense, the issues flagged up by Bagamoyo port – accountability, transparency, negotiating power, debt financing and national security – can also be found in other similar projects.
East Africa, Nantulya notes, has taken on about US$26 billion in new Chinese debt for infrastructure, energy, and construction projects with some countries like Djibouti already debt-stressed and at high risk of default.
The problem, he tells Equal Times, has a lot to do with the nature of China’s broader engagements with African countries, as China-Africa state-to-state relations are mostly conducted behind closed doors, beyond the public’s reach.

“Institutions of accountability such as inspector generals, public protectors, chambers of commerce and industry, as well as parliamentary oversight committees, civil society, media, and NGOs have little knowledge of these negotiations, and are therefore unable to monitor commitments to ensure that they reflect the national interest,” he says.

“At no point in the process of negotiations are public entities brought on board and this was certainly the case with Bagamoyo.”

…not to mention Djibouti and Kenya
This is also the case with the Lamu port part of the flagship LAPSSET project. Rows over the project have risen from the manner of its implementation, with rights groups raising constitutional, environmental and land concerns, issues that also formed the basis of a petition filed in Kenya High Court in 2012 according to Rose Birgen, senior programme officer with the environmental rights group Natural Justice, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

“It has always been the concern that the project risks biodiversity loss, deforestation and loss of vegetation cover, displacement without adequate compensation, losses of livelihoods, loss of traditional knowledge, violation of human rights and social problems such as alcoholism and prostitution by the influx of non-locals to the area,” Birgen tells Equal Times.

“The berths have literally been placed right over the local Shaka la Paye reef,” she says. “The loss of corals will result in the destruction of critical fishery resources in the area and will have negative impacts on tourism.”
Although the Kenyan High Court directed that compensation of US$17 million should be awarded to the 4,600-fisherman affected by the port construction, the Kenyan government is yet to pay out a single shilling.
Meanwhile, President Uhuru Kenyatta hopes that the completed berth will begin receiving ships before the end of 2019, thus yielding economic benefits in Lamu and the towns and villages along the LAPSSET corridor. However, Birgen remains skeptical: “In my opinion, it is uncertain whether the port is or is not economically viable because the true cost of the project including external costs have yet to be assessed. Based on this omission, Kenya cannot evaluate the full costs,” she opines.

Over in nearby Djibouti, the government has been at the centre of a protracted legal battle over the port in Djibouti City for over 12 years. Things came to a head in November 2018 when the Dubai-based global port operator DP World sued the Djibouti government for seizing ownership of the Doraleh Container Terminal, where DP World held a 33.34 per cent stake. The Djibouti government, which held 66.66 per cent of the shares, had previously sold a 23.5 per cent stake to China Merchants Port Holdings (CMP), a subsidiary of China Merchants Group (CMG).

According to Quartz Magazine, the Djibouti authorities claimed “the concession agreement [with DP World] contravenes state sovereignty and national interests and makes DP World the key authority in a geo-strategic corridor” but the Court of International Arbitration in London disagreed when this April it ordered Djibouti to pay DP World US$385 million plus interest for breaking the deal, as well as an additional US$148 million in unpaid royalties and legal costs.

Boosting east Africa’s economy
But despite the difficulties, Crecentia Mafokeng, Africa and Middle East representative for the global trade union federation Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), says that these infrastructure projects generally offer a bright spot on east Africa’s horizon. Djibouti, for example, is still on course to become a regional and African logistical hub, as its geostrategic location (in the Horn of Africa and close to the Gulf States) makes this tiny country of just one million people a critical nerve centre for global shipping and foreign military bases. As a result, Djibouti port is expected to handle trade worth US$7 billion within two years and create 15,000 jobs when ongoing expansion is completed, according to Mafokeng.

“The race is not just for military bases. There is another track where nations are competing to be the regional, and in general, African logistics hub. For now, Djibouti has a leg up,” she says.
“Kenya and Tanzania on the other hand continue to bulk up their Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports, and with a special economic zone. Optimistic projections see Bagamoyo being as busy as Rotterdam, and becoming Africa’s biggest container port in the next 10 years,” she notes.
If all the projects are successfully completed, Mafokeng says it will mean that between 2025 and 2040, the east African coastline could be home to the busiest chain of ports outside China. “Over the next three decades, the east African hinterland will also be buttressed by developments that will shape its economy and its integration,” she tells Equal Times, noting that she sees the projects fostering regional connectivity and deeper infrastructural integration.

“Investment in infrastructure and capital projects are essential to help diversify economies and promote private sector activity and industrialisation, while ensuring that enough jobs are created for the 12 million young people entering Africa’s labourforce each year,” she observes.

 
hivi, journalists was kidanganyika huwa wanaandika tu upuuzi wa ccm? mbona usicopy-paste article zao??
 
Lamu haina gantry crane hata moja itahudumia lini post panamax?
Gantry cranes nadhani wameshaagiza by now. Kuwa na subira. Hizi sio gantry cranes za kawaida, hizi ni kubwa za kuhandle postpanamax ships. The first port capable of handling post-panamax in sub-saharan Africa haitakuwa South Africa bali Kenya. Durban port haiwezi. Lagos port haiwezi. Doraleh ya Djibouti haiwezi. Port moja tu Africa ndio inaweza kuhandle postpanamax na inaitwa Medport Tangier Morroco kuanzia 2018. Super Post-Panamax Cranes Arrive at APMT Tangier
 
Gantry cranes nadhani wameshaagiza by now. Kuwa na subira. Hizi sio gantry cranes za kawaida, hizi ni kubwa za kuhandle postpanamax ships. The first port capable of handling post-panamax in sub-saharan Africa haitakuwa South Africa bali Kenya. Durban port haiwezi. Lagos port haiwezi. Doraleh ya Djibouti haiwezi. Port moja tu Africa ndio inaweza kuhandle postpanamax na inaitwa Medport Tangier Morroco kuanzia 2018. Super Post-Panamax Cranes Arrive at APMT Tangier
How about Djibouti port?

And did u read this, fourth berth being expanded out of seven!
Tanzania's key port to handle large cargo vessels after Chinese firm's expansion project: minister

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Source: Xinhua | 2019-06-15 18:05:07 | Editor: huaxia

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File photo shows the port of Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania. (Xinhua/Guo Chunju)

DAR ES SALAAM, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania said on Friday the expansion of the Dar es Salaam port by China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) will enable it to handle large vessels ferrying up to 6,000 containers when the project will be completed.
Isack Kamelwe, the east African nation's Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, told the visiting Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi that the port was currently handling ships with a capacity of ferrying between 3,000 and 4,000 containers.
"But after completion of the project, the port will have the capacity to handle vessels carrying up to 6,000 containers," Kamelwe told the visiting DRC leader.
The minister said expansion of the port will not only benefit Tanzania but also its neighboring landlocked countries, including the DRC.
The project being undertaken at the port by China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd includes improving the port's capacity by expansion of berths, he said.
"We are doing all in our capacity to improve the port's efficiency," said Kamelwe.

MY TAKE
Do u think JPM will allow transhipment business goes to Lamu after putting up over $1bln worth of modernization investments for her 3 ports?
 
How about Djibouti port?

And did u read this, fourth berth being expanded out of seven!
Tanzania's key port to handle large cargo vessels after Chinese firm's expansion project: minister

bigphoto_tit3_b.gif
bigphoto_tit6_b.gif
Source: Xinhua | 2019-06-15 18:05:07 | Editor: huaxia

CnbbeeE005006_20190615_NBMFN0A001_11n.jpg

File photo shows the port of Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania. (Xinhua/Guo Chunju)

DAR ES SALAAM, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania said on Friday the expansion of the Dar es Salaam port by China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) will enable it to handle large vessels ferrying up to 6,000 containers when the project will be completed.
Isack Kamelwe, the east African nation's Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, told the visiting Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi that the port was currently handling ships with a capacity of ferrying between 3,000 and 4,000 containers.
"But after completion of the project, the port will have the capacity to handle vessels carrying up to 6,000 containers," Kamelwe told the visiting DRC leader.
The minister said expansion of the port will not only benefit Tanzania but also its neighboring landlocked countries, including the DRC.
The project being undertaken at the port by China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd includes improving the port's capacity by expansion of berths, he said.
"We are doing all in our capacity to improve the port's efficiency," said Kamelwe.

MY TAKE
Do u think JPM will allow transhipment business goes to Lamu after putting up over $1bln worth of modernization investments for her 3 ports?
Sijui kama Djibouti port inaweza handle postpanamax.

Hiyo article inasema port yenu itahandle meli itakayoweza kubeba 6,000 containers lakini haisemi kama hiyo meli itakuwa postpanamax au la.
 
Sijui kama Djibouti port inaweza handle postpanamax.

Hiyo article inasema port yenu itahandle meli itakayoweza kubeba 6,000 containers lakini haisemi kama hiyo meli itakuwa postpanamax au la.
Meli kuanzia 6000 TEUs ni post Panamax!
 
Longest ship ever to call on Dar port today
TANZANIA Ports Authority (TPA) will register another milestone today with the arrival of the longest Post Panamax vessel ever to call at the Dar es Salaam port.
The vessel with 255 metres long is expected to arrive in Dar es Salaam today and later berth at a facility operated by the Tanzania International Container Terminal (TICTS).
The vessel, Clemens Schulte, which was built last year, is a container ship registered in Singapore, with gross tonnage of 51,872 and dead weight of 65,193. Its length and breadth is 255m x 37m.
TPA acting Corporate Communications Manager, Ms Janeth Ruzangi, said the arrival of the vessel from LaemChabang port in Thailand is testimony of growing confidence of international shipping lines in the port.
“This shows the confidence on us is growing day by day due to increased efficiency in port services,” she said. TICTS Corporate Development Director, Mr Donald Talawa, the last longest vessel to call at the terminal was MSC Martina with 242 metres long in February 2015.
Clemens Schulte is expected to discharge 250 containers and load 1,300 containers during this maiden call. Dar es Salaam port is undergoing massive transformation to improve its physical infrastructural capacity and enhance operational efficiency.
Improvements at the Dar es Salaam port include implementation of Integrated Electronic Payment System (IePS) for all dues and the Integrated Security System (ISS).
The port in collaboration with other stakeholders is now operating 24/7. It is expected that Dar es Salaam port’s throughput will be increase to 18 million tonnes by 2016/2017 and 22 million tonnes by 2020.
The port serves seven landlocked countries which are the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Source: Daily News
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark East Africa


MY TAKE
That's a ship with over 11,000 TEUs capacity! Tony254
 
Ah ha ha
Shifting the goal posts.
All of your posts talk about Panamax. Over the sudden come with the post-Panamax.
Refer your previous posts.
Hamna mahali niliposema panamax.
 
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