Relocation of Container Operations to Lamu Port
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| Relocation of Container Operations from Mombasa to Lamu Port | |
|---|---|
| Project | |
| Status | proposed |
| Theme | Ports & Logistics |
| Pillar | Economic Development |
| Counties | Mombasa, Lamu |
| Lead organisation | Pwani 2050 |
| Partners | Would require: Kenya Ports Authority, Ministry of Roads and Transport |
| Funding source | Not yet identified |
The Relocation of Container Operations to Lamu Port is a project within the Ports & Logistics theme. It is a proposal from the Pwani 2050 plan to "honour LAPSSET" by moving all container handling from the Port of Mombasa to the new port at Lamu, on the grounds that this would remove container trucks and traffic from Mombasa, that Lamu is more modern with room to grow, and that the freed land at Mombasa could host a world-class cruise terminal. Government policy points the other way. Mombasa handled 2.11 million containers (TEU) in 2025 and is being expanded, while Lamu's three berths, designed for 1.2 million TEU, handled about 56,000. Since late 2025 the government has steered transshipment cargo, containers passing between ships, to Lamu, so that Mombasa can concentrate on Kenya's own trade and that of its inland neighbours.
What it is
The proposal would shift Kenya's container traffic from Mombasa to Lamu, about 340 km to the north.[1] Lamu is the anchor of the Lamu Port, South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor. Its first three berths, for containers, general cargo and bulk, were built on about 113 hectares of reclaimed land and were designed to add 1.2 million TEU of capacity; the port is planned for 23 berths, each 400 m long and 17.5 m deep, able to take ships of over 10,000 TEU.[2] President Uhuru Kenyatta opened the first berth in May 2021.[3]
The scale of the move
Mombasa handled 45.45 million tonnes of cargo and 2.11 million TEU in 2025, while Lamu handled 799,161 tonnes and 55,687 TEU.[4] Lamu's 2025 container traffic was therefore about 2.6 per cent of Mombasa's, and Lamu's entire design capacity is a little over half of Mombasa's current volume (calculated on this page from the cited figures). Lamu's equipment in mid-2026 was three ship-to-shore gantry cranes, three mobile harbour cranes and two rubber-tyred gantries, and shipping agents said the port "urgently requires" more equipment, 24-hour pilotage and navigation aids.[5] No source describes Lamu as more automated than Mombasa, where the current investment in terminal systems, smart gates and vessel traffic management is concentrated.[6]
Rationale
The plan's case rests on congestion at Mombasa and spare capacity at Lamu. Mombasa's congestion is real: the World Bank's Container Port Performance Index ranked it 375th of 403 ports,[7] and KPA's chief executive, Captain William Ruto, said in 2026 that its yards and berths were under "unprecedented pressure".[8] About 3,600 trucks a day passed the Mariakani weighbridge on the main road inland in the first half of 2026.[9] Lamu has deep water, long berths and land to grow, and in 2026 it took the largest container ships yet to call in East Africa, including the 366 m MV Hamouna, which discharged about 5,200 TEU for onward shipment.[10]
Status and timeline
No government document proposes moving all container operations to Lamu. The Kenya Ports Authority's strategic plan for 2023 to 2028 aims to turn Lamu "into a vibrant commercial hub" with partnerships "that will guarantee the offtake of cargo through Lamu", alongside projects to expand Mombasa.[11] In August 2025 KPA announced that the shipping line CMA CGM would move its transshipment cargo from Mombasa to Lamu.[12] On 6 November 2025 KPA and the Kenya Revenue Authority issued a joint communiqué that "encouraged" all vessels with transshipment cargo to call at Lamu, while stating that the measures were meant to ensure that Mombasa "remains the Region's prefered port of choice".[13] In the first half of 2026 Mombasa's transshipment cargo fell 57 per cent, which the Northern Corridor Observatory attributed to Lamu's designation as the main transshipment hub, while Mombasa's full import containers rose 11 per cent.[9]
Lamu's traffic rose from 74,380 tonnes in 2024 to 799,161 tonnes in 2025 and over a million tonnes by July 2026, much of it transshipment and car carriers diverted from the Gulf during the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.[5][1] At the same time Mombasa is growing: berth 19B is about 56 per cent complete and will add about 300,000 TEU, and berths 23 and 24 and a new port at Dongo Kundu are planned.[6] In August 2026 the PPP Committee approved feasibility studies to concession, separately, Mombasa's Container Terminal 1 and berths 11 to 14, and an integrated Lamu Container Terminal and Lamu Special Economic Zone.[14]
How the project would be procured
There is no Terms of Reference, feasibility study or directive for a full move. It would require a national government decision, large investment in Lamu's berths, equipment and hinterland links, and changes to the concessions now being prepared for both ports.[14]
Who is involved
The proposal comes from the Pwani 2050 plan. The Kenya Ports Authority runs both ports; its Lamu general manager is Captain Abdulaziz Mzee.[4] The Kenya Revenue Authority clears cargo,[13] and the PPP Directorate is preparing the port concessions.[14] Shipping lines decide where their ships call.
Concerns and counterpoints
No one has commented in public on the Pwani 2050 proposal itself. The points below come from the record of cargo policy at Mombasa and of the Lamu port project.
Hinterland links
Most of Mombasa's cargo goes to Kenya's own market or inland: domestic cargo was 55 per cent of 2025 throughput, and transit cargo, mostly for Uganda, rose to 15.88 million tonnes.[15] That cargo travels by the standard gauge railway and the Northern Corridor highway, which both start at Mombasa. Lamu has no railway, and in 2026 only about 95 km of the road from Lamu to Garissa was paved.[5] The Auditor-General found the Lamu to Garissa to Isiolo highway "either not completed or is yet to start", with al-Shabaab attacks on road crews disrupting work.[16] Moving import containers to Lamu would mean trucking them back south or along unfinished, insecure roads. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation calls Lamu "a port with no land behind it".[17]
Mombasa's economy and the Naivasha precedent
Moving cargo away from Mombasa has been tried and reversed. Between 2019 and 2022 the government required hinterland cargo to move by rail and, from 2020, transit cargo to be cleared at the Naivasha inland depot. A Mombasa coalition, Okoa Mombasa, said the policy closed clearing firms and container freight stations and cost tens of thousands of jobs, figures it did not independently verify; protests followed, and in September 2022 President William Ruto ordered clearance returned to Mombasa, saying "this restores thousands of jobs in the city of Mombasa".[18] A full move to Lamu would be a larger version of the same shift, against the city's largest employer.
Is Lamu's growth durable?
Maritime experts quoted by The Standard called Lamu's 2026 rise a "temporary surge" likely to fade once Middle East shipping settles,[19] and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation attributes it to the Strait of Hormuz blockade.[17] The Kenya Ships Agents Association has warned that without discounts, warehousing, roads and rail Lamu could stay underused.[12]
Environment and communities at Lamu
Fishermen who lost their fishing grounds to the port won a High Court petition for compensation in 2018,[20] and The Star reported in 2024 that KPA had verified more than 4,000 fishermen for payment.[21] Dredge spoil from the port has damaged mangroves in a county that holds most of Kenya's mangrove forest.[21] The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has repeatedly raised concern about LAPSSET's impact on Lamu Old Town and asked for a heritage impact assessment.[22] Building Lamu out to Mombasa's scale would mean many more berths and much more dredging in the same waters.
The cruise terminal premise
Mombasa already has a dedicated cruise terminal; KPA recorded its construction as completed but not yet in operation in 2021.[23] Cruise traffic at Mombasa is a few ships a season, so a cruise terminal does not depend on freeing container land.
Sources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Iran's Hormuz Blockade Is Helping a Little-Used Kenyan Port, Helen Nyambura, Bloomberg, republished by gCaptain, 19 March 2026.
- ↑ Kenya Ports Authority Annual Report and Financial Statements 2020/2021, Kenya Ports Authority, PDF pages 27 and 47.
- ↑ Uhuru commissions berth at Lamu port, The Star, 20 May 2021.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bandari Magazine, July 2026, Kenya Ports Authority, PDF page 22.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Calls for Lamu Port modernisation grow amid cargo growth, Patrick Beja, The Standard, 30 July 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mombasa Port ramps up expansion, digitisation as cargo volumes rise, Sadik Hassan, Kenya News Agency, 13 October 2026.
- ↑ World Bank flags congestion woes at Mombasa port, Valentine Obara and Anthony Kitimo, Business Daily, 29 September 2025.
- ↑ Bandari Magazine, July 2026, Kenya Ports Authority, PDF page 18.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Northern Corridor Transport Observatory Biannual Report, January to June 2026, Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority, 2026, printed pages 2, 4 and 10.
- ↑ Lamu Port welcomes 366-metre MV Hamouna in new milestone for deep-water capacity, Amenya Ochieng, Kenya News Agency, 4 October 2026.
- ↑ Kenya Ports Authority Strategic Plan 2023/24 to 2027/28 (popular version), Kenya Ports Authority, 2023, PDF pages 3 and 8.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Time for Lamu port to shine in Mombasa decongestion plan, Bernard Sanga, The Standard, 21 August 2025.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Joint Communiqué between KPA and KRA on Measures to Enhance Efficiency at the Port of Mombasa, Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Revenue Authority, 6 November 2025, items 6 and 13.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Kenya Moves Key Mombasa, Lamu Port Assets to PPP Procurement, Frankline Oduor, Kenyans.co.ke, 27 August 2026.
- ↑ Mombasa port records growth in cargo volume, vessel traffic in 2025, Kenya News Agency, 29 January 2026.
- ↑ LAPSSET gamechanger project a pipedream as key projects stall, Eliud Kibii, The Star, 27 July 2025.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 LAPSSET Corridor: A bet gone wrong, the odds have shifted, Valerie Maier and Miklos Romandy, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, 14 September 2026.
- ↑ Hard times for SGR as port operations return to Coast, Bonface Otieno, Business Daily, 13 September 2022.
- ↑ Lamu port traffic surges but growth may be fleeting, Philip Mwakio, The Standard, 26 March 2026.
- ↑ Mohamed Ali Baadi and others v Attorney General and 11 others, Petition 22 of 2012, High Court of Kenya, judgment of 30 April 2018.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 How dredging hurt Lamu mangroves, livelihoods, The Star, 9 May 2024.
- ↑ Decision 42 COM 7B.45, Lamu Old Town, UNESCO World Heritage Committee, 2018.
- ↑ Kenya Ports Authority Annual Report 2020/2021, Kenya Ports Authority, PDF page 30.