Kenya Railways Corporation has noted a significant increase in standard gauge railway (SGR) mode of transporting container goods from the Port of Mombasa. – By Gerald Gekara.
The lower freight charges have prompted the introduction of double stack trains that have seen the number of containers rise from 108 to 152 on a single move on each train, reflecting a growth of 40.7 percent
Freight charges were slashed from $600 to $510 for a 20-foot container and from $850 to $725 for 40-foot sized container from Mombasa to Naivasha effective this month.
So far, the Africa Star Railway Operation Company (Afristar) said more than 186 trains have delivered 18,972 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) to the Nairobi container depot.
“The recently introduced two double deck trains, each conveying 152 TEUs per move, has continued to up the game on containerized cargo, enabling clearance on the old backlogs and maintaining desired loading of units ex hook, directly from discharging vessels”, said Kenya Railways managing director Philip Mainga.
Afristar is also considering other modes to incorporate more traffic, including the loading of bulk cargo on special open type wagons and additional bulk wagons above conventional cargo requirements.
