Kenya’s principal maritime gateway, the Port of Mombasa, has announced a 10.9 percent rise in cargo volumes for the year 2025, handling 45.45 million metric tonnes compared to 40.99 million metric tonnes in 2024. This performance has been described by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) as indicative of renewed momentum in regional commerce and underscores the port’s enduring significance within Africa’s maritime economy.
William Ruto, the KPA’s Managing Director, noted in a formal statement that container traffic increased by 5.5 percent to reach 2.11 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), rising from 2 million TEUs the previous year. The uptick in activity was not confined to containerised cargo, with a substantial growth observed in transit volumes, which escalated to 15.88 million metric tonnes. This reflects a 19.5 percent increase from the 13.29 million metric tonnes recorded in 2024.
The expansion in transit trade has been driven by increased utilisation of the corridor by neighbouring countries. Uganda, which remains Mombasa’s largest inland market, saw a 25.2 percent rise in cargo throughput. The Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded a 16.5 percent increase, Rwanda 22.8 percent, and Tanzania 11 percent. These figures collectively reflect a recalibration of regional logistics preferences, with Mombasa continuing to anchor the Northern Corridor as a preferred trade route for landlocked states in the East and Central African subregion.
This year’s performance reinforces the port’s evolving role in a more integrated and intra-connected continental trade narrative. In a region increasingly characterised by infrastructural agency and economic self-determination, the figures reflect less a singular national achievement and more the consequences of deliberate regional policy coordination. Kenya, through its port infrastructure, positions itself not merely as a transit hub but as an active participant in shaping the future of African trade systems.
The KPA also reported growth at all of its facilities, with the Port of Lamu exhibiting the most notable improvement. From handling 74,380 metric tonnes in 2024, Lamu managed 799,161 metric tonnes in 2025. The authority processed 55,687 TEUs through the facility, with containerised cargo emerging as the primary driver. This signals a shift in the functionality of the Lamu Port from aspirational infrastructure to a concrete contributor to regional trade flows. According to the KPA, increased scheduling by international shipping lines at Lamu is expected to further boost throughput in the coming years.
In response to this growth, the KPA has confirmed ongoing investments into infrastructural development with a focus on sustainability and capacity expansion. While exact details of these initiatives remain under internal review, the broader objective remains to ensure the ports are capable of handling increased volumes while aligning with global standards on efficiency and environmental impact.
These developments arrive amid broader continental efforts to reshape trade corridors through projects such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to reduce intra-African trade barriers. Within this context, Kenya’s maritime assets become pivotal in supporting continental supply chains, not merely for East Africa but for the wider Pan African logistical grid. That both Mombasa and Lamu have recorded measurable growth points to the effectiveness of long-term infrastructural planning, regional collaboration, and the strategic recalibration of port operations toward African development imperatives.
Far from a narrative of dependence, the performance of Kenya’s ports speaks to an evolving African capability to define, execute, and manage its own trade architecture. The emphasis by the KPA on reliability and infrastructure-driven trust affirms the view that African ports, once peripheral in global logistics chains, are transitioning into central nodes of a dynamic intra-continental system.
