Nairobi, May 19 -- The Port of Mombasa recorded a 2.1 per cent decline in container traffic in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year. This casts doubts on the goal of attaining a 35.9 million tonnes total throughput and 1.49 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) target in 2020 as stated in the Kenya Ports Authority's Master Plan.

In a report released last week by the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Co-ordination Authority, the Covid-19 pandemic was cited as the reason behind the drop from 110,790 TEUs handled in February 2019 to 108,958 TEUs recorded in February this year.

China, which was the first to report Covid-19 cases, is among the top trading partners with Kenya and contributes 29.2 pe...