Port Management Association of Eastern Africa (PMAESA) meeting-Port Victoria suitable for regional hub, says PMESA |11 December 2007

Various speakers said this during the opening of the 2007 meeting of the Port Management Association of Eastern Africa (PMAESA), which started yesterday and is expected to go on until Thursday at the International Conference Centre.

“We have seen Port Victoria, which has a draft of 17 metres, which means it can handle large ships. That also means it can be developed into a hub port for the region and this is what other ports are fighting for, the chairman of PMAESA, Abdallah Hemed Mwaruwa, said this during an interview.

“Port Victoria is definitely better-placed than most others to serve this region,” said Mr Mwaruwa, who is also the managing director of the Kenya Ports Authority.

He added that if many ports in this zone are better developed, some of the cruise ships which sail around the Caribbean can relocate to this part of the Indian Ocean bringing in more tourists.

The chairman said that while ports can be competitive, they can also complement one another when many within the region are adequately developed.

Congestion, he said, is one of the biggest problems encountered at other ports where shipping lines lose time and often demand charges for being delayed.

“When there is congestion at the port, ships are delayed and it becomes difficult to move cargo out of the port,” he said, noting that looking on the positive side, congestion also means there is an increase in the volume of cargo being handled, although efficiency should be enhanced to reduce on this.

He said that the meeting is being held to examine the way forward and to look at the different challenges facing various ports of the region and to look for ways of overcoming them.

In his speech to open the conference, the Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Transport, Joel Morgan, outlined the many advantages that Port Victoria has over other ports.

“Geography has been kind to us. In addition to being located in one of the most beautiful and sheltered harbours in the world, we are strategically located in the heart of the Indian Ocean. This gives a favourable time zone which allows working hours to overlap with major financial and business centres both east and west.

“We have good air links with several major cities in Europe, Asia and Africa. We have a cyclone-free climate, the deepest port in the region, highly developed banking system, a highly educated trilingual workforce and a communication system comparable to European standards,” Minister Morgan said, adding that Seychelles port is strategically located on several important shipping routes.

Noting that this country’s 1.34 million exclusive economic zone gives Seychelles a great deal of interest on issues to do with the maritime environment, transportation and port facilities, Minister Morgan referred to the fact that Seychelles now has four large oil tankers, while the fifth has just been launched.

He added that regional ports’ success is dependent on such factors as the fisheries industry, economies of scale, cargo volumes, market access, frequency of maritime traffic, port operating and infrastructural development costs, maritime tourism as well as environmental management issues.

The opening session was attended by, among others, the Minister for Employment and Human Resources Development, Macsuzy Mondon, a number of principal secretaries and representatives of different regional and global maritime organizations, many of whom gave their messages of support.