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The Rail Mounted Gantry cranes received at the port of Mombasa on May 26, 2018. Photo/JOHN CHESOLI
The Kenya Ports Authority on Saturday received two Rail Mounted Gantry (RMGs) meant for the handling of cargo of the Standard Gauge Railways.
On December 2016, KPA ordered six RMGs from the ZPMC Ltd based in China at a cost of Sh2.12 billion for the consignment.
Each of the crane costs Sh345 million.
The authority received two of the ordered six cranes, whereas the remaining four are expected into the country by the end of June this year.
KPA Head of Container Terminal Engineering, Julius Tai, said these RMGs will be installed to serve the SGR lines and the old Metre Gauge Railway line which are inside the port.
“We expect the cargo handling for the SGR and the MGR within the port will improve more. These two new cranes will be installed adjacent to berth number 12 and 14 to purposely serve the cargo meant to be transported by rail,” said Tai.
According to Tai, it has taken the manufacturer of the cranes some 13 months to build the two cranes and another additional one month to ship them to Kenya.
It will take the KPA workers about four days to offload the cranes and mount them on their designated rail position, which is about 200 metres from the berths.
“Temporary rails will be laid from the berth to the RMG area to facilitate pulling of the cranes. This is expected to interrupt the normal traffic at the terminal, but efforts have been made to ensure sections of the terminal are left clear for traffic flow,” said Tai.
They will be commissioned in the next three weeks.
Edward Opiyo, KPA Head of Container Operations, said efficiency at the Mombasa port has continued to improve day by day because of the equipment they have installed.
‘We are not only focusing on infrastructure but also equipment. The port of Mombasa is driven by equipment and human skills. The procurement of this equipment is because of the increase of the volume of cargo passing through this port,” said Opiyo.
In April this year, KPA also pumped in about Sh6.68 billion in the acquisition of new Ship to Shore Gantry (STS) Crane and Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) Cranes.
The four Ship to Shore Gantry cranes and 12 Rubber Tyred Gantry cranes were ordered from Toyota Tsusho in Japan.
The cost of one Ship to Shore crane is Sh947 million while each Rubber Tyred crane costs Sh185 million, totalling to Sh6.68 billion for the whole consignment of sixteen cranes.
KPA receives Sh2.12 billion rail mounted gantry cranes for SGR cargo
