28 Ships Queue at Mombasa as Dar es Salaam Diversion Strains Region

East Africa's Port Bottleneck: What the Mombasa Queue Reveals About Regional Logistics

The sight of 28 vessels queuing for berth access at the Port of Mombasa signals a critical stress point in East Africa's supply chain infrastructure. Behind this congestion lies a cascading failure of regional port resilience: when the Port of Dar es Salaam experiences operational constraints, the entire maritime corridor strains under concentrated traffic at alternative hubs. For supply chain professionals managing trade flows into East Africa, this situation demands immediate strategic reassessment.

The diversion from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa reflects a structural vulnerability in the region's port network. East Africa relies heavily on two major containerized gateways—Mombasa (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)—to serve a vast inland hinterland including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. When one gateway falters, the other absorbs overflow with limited ability to scale operations. Unlike mature port systems in Southeast Asia or Europe, East African ports lack the operational flexibility—additional berths, redundant cargo handling equipment, or surge staffing protocols—to gracefully absorb 20-30% traffic spikes. The result is predictable: extended vessel waiting times, stranded inventory, and ballooning logistics costs.

A backlog of 28 ships translates into real operational pain. Each day a vessel sits in a queue costs shippers demurrage fees, delays downstream cargo discharge, and ties up container inventory. For just-in-time supply chains—especially those serving retail, automotive, and fast-moving consumer goods sectors—even a 5-7 day delay can trigger bullwhip effects upstream. Importers must absorb the demurrage charges (often $1,500–$3,000 per day per vessel), which get passed through to end consumers or absorbed by already-thin margins. Stevedoring labor becomes a secondary constraint: even if additional berths open, insufficient dock workers create a second chokepoint, prolonging cargo discharge and extending the queue.

Operational Implications and Strategic Responses

Shippers and logistics managers should take immediate steps to navigate this disruption. First, establish direct communication with freight forwarders and port agents in Mombasa to monitor queue status and predict vessel berthing windows. Real-time visibility tools are invaluable here. Second, assess whether time-sensitive cargo justifies a modal shift: airfreight is expensive but preferable to weeks of inventory aging in port. Third, evaluate alternative entry points—some cargo may route through Beira (Mozambique) or even South Africa's ports, depending on origin, destination, and cost tolerance.

Longer term, this event highlights the fragility of single-port dependency. Organizations with substantial East African footprints should diversify supplier networks geographically, negotiate agreements with multiple freight forwarders to secure space during congestion events, and build inventory buffers specifically for supply chain disruptions at the region's ports. Supply chain resilience in East Africa requires acknowledging that port disruptions are not anomalies but structural features of an infrastructure system that has not kept pace with trade volume growth.

The Bigger Picture: Capacity and Investment Gaps

The Mombasa queue also signals a broader investment deficit in East African port infrastructure. While global container traffic has grown steadily, port expansion in the region has lagged. Mombasa and Dar es Salaam are constrained by physical berth limitations, aging cranes, and administrative delays. Proposed expansions—including newer terminals and deepwater facilities—remain in planning or early construction phases. Until these projects come online, supply chain professionals should expect periodic congestion to be endemic rather than exceptional.

For multinational companies and regional traders, this means factoring port risk into financial planning. The cost of congestion-driven demurrage, inventory carrying costs, and potential service level failures should inform procurement and supplier selection decisions. Conversely, this also presents an opportunity: companies that master supply chain flexibility and resilience in this environment gain competitive advantage over rivals still relying on brittle, single-path logistics networks.

The 28 vessels queuing at Mombasa are a symptom, not the disease. The disease is structural undersupply of East African port capacity relative to regional trade demand. Until that gap closes through major infrastructure investment, supply chain disruptions will remain a recurring cost of doing business in East Africa.

Source: The EastAfrican