Kenya to ban trucking of 28-tonne plus boxes, insists railways instead

KENYA is introducing a ban on the trucking containers of more than 28 tonnes and requiring the boxes they carry be railed instead.

Transport Permanent Secretary Cyrus Njiru said the policy to reduce over reliance on the nation's roads will take effect in a matter of days, reports Kenya's Capital FM Network.

Typically, container load maximums are 24 tonnes for a TEU and 30 tonnes for an FEU, the shorter 20-footers being sturdier, tolerating more stress than the 40-footer given their differing lengths.

"We cannot continue destroying our roads. Trucks are used at the last point between the container depot and the factory and even for that section they should not be over 28 tonnes. We have asked RVR (Rift Valley Railways) to triple its carrying capacity," he said.

In a related development, designs for the standard gauge railway line from the Port of Mombasa to Nairobi have been finalised, paving way for the construction of the first half of the extended line from the port to Kampala in Uganda.

Mr Njiru hopes that work on the Mombasa to Nairobi railway line can start at the end of the year as the tendering process has begun. However until then, rehabilitation of the existing line between Mombasa and Nairobi is underway.

"Rails are being laid from around Changamwe towards Nairobi and we will replace the entire 70 kilometres of the worn out sections at the curves. We'll get the rail to carry 35 per cent of the volume by December," he said. Owing to its state of dilapidation, the line has been operating at about four per cent of its original design capacity.

The railway line between Nairobi and the Port of Mombasa carries 70 per cent of the volume of cargo transported from the port.

The port is said to be extremely overloaded as its existing container terminal handled 771,000 TEU in 2011, yet it is designed to only handle 600,000 TEU per year.

Kenya Ports Authority managing director Gichiri Ndua said development of a second container terminal at the port of Mombasa is expected to be completed in March 2016.