THE STANDARD
BUSINESS NEWS
Geofrey Namadoa, a marine pilot at KPA
It is turning to be a voyage like no other. The giant ships, like the galleons of yore, are heaped with heavy cargo handling machines and moving at a snail's pace -a mere 8 knots.
They will take 22 hours to reach Lamu Port from Mombasa - a distance of 242 kilometres on water. The voyage begins next week.
According to Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), transporting the machines will be a logistical undertaking not seen on these shores. The equipment needs careful loading and offloading to avoid mishaps.
The equipment to be loaded onto a special and much bigger barge include two rubber tyred gantry cranes, each weighing 110 tonne, a mobile scanner truck belonging to Kenya Revenue Authority, forklifts, and two harbour mobile cranes, one weighs 450 tonnes, with a capacity to lift upto 100 tonnes.