MOMBASA, Kenya, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Kenya received 430 freight trucks from China on Monday to strengthen freight operations on its national railway network. The batch includes 230 trucks designed for the China-built Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line and 200 trucks designed for the meter-gauge railway line.
Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Roads and Transport Mohamed Dagar said the trucks will facilitate the evacuation of cargo at Mombasa Port and help ease road congestion.
“Given that Kenya’s economy is one of the fastest growing in the region, we need strategic investments in transport and logistics to ensure that cargo movement is performed efficiently and effectively,” Duggal said while waving at the trucks. At the port of Mombasa.
He added that all the trucks have a capacity of 70 tonnes or more and can transport heavy container cargo, thereby reducing damage to roads.
Kenya Railways General Manager Philip Mainga said the freight arm of Kenya Railways has entered into long-term freight agreements with a number of customers and has plans in place to ensure reliable, safe and efficient services.
“We are procuring a total of 500 trucks, of which 300 are designed for standard gauge railway line operations and 200 are designed for meter gauge railway line operations,” Mainga said. “The trucks are available in a variety of specifications to ensure transport from Mombasa Port to Outbound cargo will be able to be transported all the way to Kampala via the Standard Gauge Railway/Meter Gauge Railway transfer facility in Naivasha.”
The arrival of the new trucks comes just a month after Kenya received 50 new trucks from China in February to facilitate SGR cargo service operations.
Data from the Ministry of Transport shows that the volume of goods transported via meter gauge railways increased by 21% from 787,000 tons in 2022 to 1,000,955 tons in 2023. Additionally, cargo volumes transported via the SGR increased by 7% from 6.09 million tonnes in 2023 to 6.53 million tonnes in 2023. Passenger numbers will also grow by 12% to 2.73 million passengers by 2022 from 2.39 million in 2022.
