The Ugandan Finance, Planning and Economic Development Parliamentary Committee visited the Naivasha Inland Container Depot (NICD) on March 12, 2022 for a bench-marking tour to understand the operation of cargo transportation from Mombasa to Malaba via NICD and explore modalities to facilitate and improve trade between the two countries.

The trip’s main objective was to get insights into how the operating systems put in place will help ease the cross border trade right from the Port of Mombasa, through the Naivasha Inland Container Depot, to the Malaba Railway Yard and onward transportation to the final destinations in Uganda. The team whose tour started in Mombasa visited the Port of Mombasa where they witnessed the logistics involved in cargo transportation of cargo beginning with offloading by the Kenya Ports Authority, clearance by the Kenya Revenue Authority and loading and transportation by Kenya Railways via the Standard Gauge Railway line.

The team’s second stop was the NICD where they witnessed the transshipment of cargo from the Standard Gauge Railway line onto the Metre Gauge Railway line and onward transportation to Malaba.

The delegation from Uganda expressed their satisfaction with the systems in place saying that they guaranteed the Ugandan customers efficiency and safety of their cargo especially given that cargo arrives at the final destination in 36 hours.

Hon. Henry Musasizi, Minister of State General Duties, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Uganda said that Kenya and Uganda are undertaking railway infrastructure improvement initiatives with a view of facilitating cross border trade and enhancing economic development.

“Linking the Standard Gauge Railway line and the Metre Gauge Railway line at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot is a game changer for the two countries. It is now possible to transport cargo exclusively via rail from Mombasa to the end destination. This development serves to show the type of commitment the two countries have as far as trade is concerned. The end product as witnessed to date since operations at this facility commenced is that cargo arrives at the end destination so fast,” he said. “The traders are elated because the benefits of using rail transport are quite obvious and known to everyone. Given an option between railways and other modes of land transport for bulk cargo transportation, your guess is as good as mine. Railway is the way to go,” he added.

On his part, the Kenya Railways Managing Director Mr. Phillip Mainga informed the visiting delegation that Kenya Railways is relentless in pursuit of the set targets regarding transportation of cargo between Mombasa and Malaba border. He said that improvement initiatives are underway to make the facility serve customers better.

“We have received Rail Mounted Gantrys in the country and we shall soon install and operationalize the Gantrys. We are also acquiring more locomotives some of which will be deployed to this operation. This will further enhance the operations and we are confident that the future is bright,” he said.  

Improvement initiatives such as the Naivasha Inland Container Depot have gone a long way in mitigating deep seated bottlenecks that were associated with cargo transport in the region. With the cargo throughput at the Port of Mombasa increasing over the past decade investments in railways will go a long way in easing the pressure brought about by the increased trade volumes.