Relief for dozens of importers and hundreds of companies in Kenya and Uganda who depend on ship transport through the Suez Canal for their operations.
The huge container ship MV Ever Given, which finally came alongside the Suez Canal yesterday, has freed dozens of ships loaded with products and materials bound for the port of Mombasa, which have already been delayed for days and will inevitably be delayed even more as they have to proceed at reduced cruising speed.
Delays in deliveries will affect European consumer goods in particular: foodstuffs such as pasta and wheat derivatives, alcohol and various canned goods. The concern of Italian importers in Kenya centred on the resilience of certain foodstuffs which, although packaged and prepared for shipping and container temperatures, may suffer with longer arrival times.
But Kenyan industry was concerned about other important sectors that stimulate the local economy, such as manufacturing.
Because obviously delays in arrival affect departures and consequently the export of local products from Mombasa.
"Delays in removing the ship from the canal will cause serious losses due to delays in the arrival of raw materials for processing," explained Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) president Mucai Kunyiha, "the risk is that we will have to stop production. Other ships could choose alternative routes via North Africa, but the longer route would significantly increase logistics costs and lead to more goods being sold on the local market," he said.
It was a blow to the East African (as well as the rest of the world) import-export sector, which is already severely tested by the pandemic year. Evidence of this is the pile of empty containers at the port of Mombasa and the delays in fillings and deliveries. Truck turnaround time between Mombasa and Kampala, for example, has increased from an average of 3.7 days to about 10, the time it takes a truck to deliver its cargo in Kampala and return to the port.
About 35% of East Africa's global inbound and outbound trade (compared to 12% worldwide) passes through the 193 km long canal, which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe.