The government of Kenya has officially launched the Lamu port. President Uhuru Kenyatta presided over the operationalisation of the first berth of the 32-berth seaport in Lamu and witnessed the docking of the Singaporean MV CAP Carmel, the first ship to dock at the deep sea port.
As he commissioned the first phase of Lamu port operations, the Commander in chief said that the second berth will start operations in July and the third in October this year. The second berth will connect Kenya to the Northern Corridor; South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Construction of the Lamu Port began in December 2016 with the dredging works on the three berths. It is part of the Sh2.5 trillion Lamu-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). The foundation stone of the LAPSSET project was laid by former President Mwai Kibaki in 2012, a dream that finally comes to fruition nine years later.
Vision 2030 flagship project
The Lamu Port is also a Kenya Vision 2030 flagship project and is expected to transform regional economies through increased trade. Recruitment of various departmental staff members at the port has since taken place with more expected to be brought on board later.
Kenya has cut tariff for ships docking at the new Lamu Port by up to 50% of the rates charged at the Mombasa facility to lure more vessels at the second commercial harbour. Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) halved the cost of pilotage, tug services and mooring for the vessels calling on port of Lamu. Adequate security measures had also been taken to ensure that the port, staff and cargo are safe at all times through deployment of port security on site.
Currently, the ships docking at the port of Mombasa are pay Sh16,200 for using the KPA pilots to bring the ships to the berth and Sh32,400 for use of the agency’s tug boats and a minimum of Sh21,600 for mooring services.
