2 Ноября 2016

From:	John Keir, Ross Learmont Ltd.
Email:	john.keir@telia.com
Date:	02 November 2016

Onwards and upwards

The second in the trio of new rail lines being built by the Chinese in East Africa will link the port of Mombasa with the Kenyan capital at Nairobi, a journey of some 600 kilometres. As with the line from Djibouti to Addis Ababa, this will be uphill journey all the way: Nairobi sits some 1,700 metres above sea level, a fact that has made it difficult to increase cargo distribution by road. The line has been designed with an axle load of 25 tonnes and could transport, 22 million tonnes per year at a speed of 80-100km/h for freight trains and 120km/h for passenger trains. Each of the freight trains will have a haulage capacity of 4,000 tonnes, or 216 TEUs, and can accommodate double-stack containers.

Kenya already has a thriving agricultural sector that can take immediate advantage of this intermodal opportunity to increase exports. To the north of the capital, Nairobi lie the Kenyan Highlands, comprising one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa. The highlands are also the site of the highest point in Kenya and the second highest peak on the continent, Mount Kenya, which reaches 5,199 m.

The principal cash crops grown in the Highlands are tea, horticultural produce and coffee. Along with corn and wheat, these crops are grown right across the temperate lands in the high country. The rail line from Nairobi to the Ugandan capital will pass through the highlands, allowing growers to open up new markets for their highly-valued products in the East African community by using the inbound containers, thus providing revenue on both legs of the rail journey.

The increased income from the sale of local crops will enable Kenyan farmers to purchase machinery in order to increase the acreage of land under the plough to feed the nation’s 47 million inhabitants. Agricultural products can then be exported more easily and more cheaply to markets bordering on the Indian Ocean and further afield. By 2035, the railway line is projected to carry 22 million tonnes a year of cargo, or roughly 40% of all cargo passing through the Port of Mombasa. The additional rail capacity in East Africa will be required to feed and clothe a rapidly growing population. Of the 2.37 billion increase in population expected worldwide by 2050, Africa alone will contribute 54%.

In the third week of October, the President, Uhuru Kenyatta officially launched the construction of the 120km Phase 2A to Naivasha. This will eventually link up with the rail line from Uganda plus the lines coming up from the two smaller states of Rwanda and Burundi. These two countries in the Great Lakes region may also be joined to the new Tanzanian standard-gauge railway, thus completing a giant semi-circular rail network in East Africa. At the same time, there are proposals to extend the rail network north from Nairobi up to the newly independent country of South Sudan.

John Keir, Ross Learmont Ltd.
02 November 2016

Copyright ©, 2016, John Keir