CMA CGM launched a dedicated rail service between the port of Mombasa and the Nairobi-Embakasi inland depot on 28 October. Developed with Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Railways, it starts with one train a week.
Its 54 wagons offer a capacity of 108 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU. The service initially covers containerised imports. Customer demand will determine any increase in frequency and the opening of a return route to Mombasa.
The operation extends the sea link to the capital's inland terminal. Embakasi has long served a logistics function. An article in Business Daily published in 2016 already described the presence on site of tax, standards and health inspection authorities, to facilitate the documentation of goods.