The role of Container

Freight Stations in
Enhancing Port Efficiency

James Rarieya
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CONTAINER FREIGHT STATIONS AND ICDS

CFS are not a new phenomenon in the maritime industry!
In shipping glossary terms a container freight station
represents an area designated by a carrier to load or
unload goods from containers.
In the EACMA, a CFS is referred to as an Internal
Container Depot!
In Mombasa, for the port community, a CFS represents
any facility that can act as a secondary customs
clearance point for cargo some located within the port
(BP sheds) and others located some distance away
from the port.

CONTAINER FREIGHT STATIONS AND ICDS

Ideally all these facilities provide relief to port

operations away from the ship/land interface
area hence the logic that they should be
removed some distance from the quay and
temporary stacking areas . The correct
terminology should therefore be Inland
Container Depots (ICDs).

CONTAINER FREIGHT STATIONS AND ICDS

Container Terminal

Mixed Cargo
Terminals

Motor Vehicle
Terminals

Awanad Logistics

Interpel
Investments Ltd

African Liner
Terminal

Compact Freight
Systems Ltd

Focus CFS

Boss Freight
Terminal

Consolbase 1

MCT

Consolbase 2

Kipevu ICD

Mitchel Cotts Ltd

Makupa Transit Shed

Portside Freight
Terminal

MICT

CONDITIONS FOR OPERATING A CFS

KENYA REVENUE AUTHORITY
Conditions as per Gazette notice 11215 of 24th
September 2010
Obtain prior approval from CSD prior to embarking on
development
Minimum area of 2.5 hectares
Generate no less than kshs100 million in customs
revenue
Rail siding

CONDITIONS FOR OPERATING A CFS

KENYA PORTS AUTHORITY
Licensing conditions as per SLA terms
Must be duly gazetted by KRA
Minimum operational handling equipment 2 reach
stackers
Must have in place insurance cover that
Properly paved area for stacking full boxes
Adequate number of shunting trucks
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EVOLUTION OF KPA LICENCED CFSs

2002

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

BP1-WFP
BP2-MCOT
BP3-RGL

CBL
MCT

CBL
MCT

CBL
MCT
COMPACT

CBL
MCT
COMPACT

CBL
MCT
COMPACT

CBL
MCT
COMPACT

INTERPEL

INTERPEL

INTERPEL

INTERPEL

PORT SIDE

PORT SIDE

PORT SIDE

MITCHEL
COTTS

MITCHEL
COTTS

MITCHEL
COTTS

AWANAD

AWANAD

AWANAD

FOCUS

FOCUS

KIPEVU

KIPEVU

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MAKUPA

MAKUPA

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MICT

1
2
3

FUNCTIONS
Provide port with additional capacity for cargo
stacking
Platform for cargo inspection by various cargo
interveners
Tax collection point for the Customs Service
Department
Storage area for un-cleared goods
The revised KPA stacking capacity is 18000 teus
whilst the combined CFS stacking capacity is
27,340 teus

PORT CAPACITY
Port container handling capacity is determined by :
Number of available ground slots( TGS)
Ideal stacking height
Container dwell time
Annual Throput = TGSX IDEAL STACK
HEIGHTX365 DAYS
DWELL TIME
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PORT CAPACITY
Annual Throput 2012
teus
8.9

=5142 X 3.5X365 = 738,079

The port as at the end of October has handled 751,064

teus which implies a thro put of 901,277 teus by end of the
year!!
To date the volume channeled through the CFS is 157,047
teus. This represents :
61% of the local import cargo
43% of the total import traffic in the port of Mombasa

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PORT PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Indicator

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Throuput
(000 TEU)

585

615

618

695

770

895

Gross
Shipping
Waiting
days

0.43

0.55

0.23

0.50

1.11

0.33

Container
6.1
Dwell Time (
days)

12.1

6.0

5.6

6.5

6.7

Ship
Turnaround
Time

3.7

4.9

3.6

4.0

4.4

4.2

Gross
moves/day

289

293

320

330

309

456
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CFS IMPACT ON PORT EFFICIENCY

Key performance indicators have shown a positive trend
since 2007 and have helped to stabilize port operations.
2012 is a unique year considering all the development
activity that was undertaken by the port that had the effect
of reducing the operating capacity.
Port still not utilizing the available CFS capacity. There
more scope to use fully the existing CFS capacity.

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MOMBASA CONTAINER TERMINAL

13

MOMBASA CONTAINER TERMINAL

Pioneer CFS operator (formerly SDV Transami
CFS)
Fully owned subsidiary of Bollore Africa Logistics
the
leading integrated logistics network and
leading operator in
public private port
partnerships in Africa
Investment M 7

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Thank You

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