Two Maersk vessels made maiden calls at Kenya’s new Indian Ocean port last week as the country launched the first of a planned 32 berths at the harbor it hopes will become the market leader on this stretch of coast.



The Lamu facility will cost an estimated $5 billion and supplement the clogged Mombasa port, which lies 340 kilometers (313 miles) to the south in Kenya’s second-largest city. The existing harbor is the region’s biggest, serving hinterland countries including Uganda, Rwanda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Major Ports on the East African Coast
Kenya’s Lamu port wants to be a key gateway
Lamu’s first berth is expected to process 400,000 20-foot equivalent units of shipping containers in its first year. Kenya hopes it can direct more transshipment cargo there to free up Mombasa, which handled 1.36 million TEUs last year.

Across Africa, ports suffer from aging equipment and other inefficiencies that cause delays and lead to higher handling costs than elsewhere in the world, according to the African Development Bank.

With Lamu, Kenya is planning to be the go-to port for landlocked Ethiopia and South Sudan. But luring new business there could prove challenging. Ethiopia regained use of the Red Sea ports of Assab and Massawa following a rapprochement with Eritrea, while most of its inbound trade already arrives through the Port of Djibouti. South Sudan may, however, consider using Lamu as an alternative to Port Sudan, the main maritime gateway in Sudan.

Popular Mombasa Port
Traffic at Kenya’s hub was steadily rising until Covid-19 hit
Neighboring Tanzania, whose Dar es Salaam port is Mombasa’s biggest competition, has been planning a $10 billion port at Bagamoyo. That project was put on ice during former President John Magufuli’s tenure, but could be revived by his successor, Samia Suluhu Hassan.

A key concern for potential users of the Lamu facility will be its location. The idyllic resort town lies just 100 kilometers from the Somalia border and has come under multiple attacks from al-Shabaab — an al-Qaeda-backed group of insurgents.

Kenya is constructing highways linking Lamu to the border with Ethiopia and South Sudan. The network will traverse sparsely populated Kenyan territory that’s particularly vulnerable to attacks from the Somalia-based militant group.