East Africa: Rwanda, Burundi trade shoots up

(SomaliNet) A performance report monitoring at the port reveals that transit traffic bound for Rwanda and Burundi rose sharply at Mombasa last year, with indications that the total throughput will continue growing this year.

According to the report, which covers 2006, traffic for Burundi registered the highest increase of 134 per cent, while that for Rwanda rose by 15 per cent.

Uganda’s traffic grew by 5.3 per cent while Tanzania’s dropped by 4 per cent.

Though the deadweight tonnage for Rwanda and Burundi remains low compared with that for Uganda and Tanzania, the sharp increase registered by the port last year a positive and steady growth in transit traffic over the past three years.

According to William Mtengo, the Kenya Ports Authority resident representative in Uganda, who is also in charge of Rwanda and Burundi, the rapid but steady growth in transit traffic at the port is due to the economic growth in the two countries.

“The economies of the two countries have significantly improved; that is why we are seeing a boom in cargo going to these countries,” said Mr Mtengo
KPA forecasts 10 to 15 per cent growth in 2007 for the two countries in this year.

Rwanda’s tonnage increased steadily from 80,822 in 2002, to 253,113 last year, while Burundi’s rose from 4,205 in 2003 to 19, 769 in 2004 and to 67,460 tonnes of transit traffic last year.

Uganda’s traffic through Mombasa last year was 2.8 million tonnes, up from 2.6 million the
previous year, while Tanzania registered 270,144 tonnes, up from 281,427 in 2005.-The East African