Kenya pays more to move cargo as corruption, delays drive up costs, World Bank says

Shipping a 20-foot container from the Port of Mombasa to Nairobi costs 32 per cent more than moving similar cargo over an equivalent distance in Europe, with corruption, port congestion and road delays driving up transport costs in Kenya, a new World Bank report has revealed.

The report puts the cost of transporting a container from Mombasa to Nairobi at about $2.20 (Sh286) per kilometre, translating to approximately $1,000 (Sh130,000) for the entire journey.

In comparison, cargo owners in Europe pay about $1.50 (Sh195) per kilometre to transport a similar container over an equivalent distance, despite higher labour and fuel costs.

The World Bank report attributes the higher costs in Kenya to inefficiencies along the Mombasa-Nairobi transport corridor, including congestion and poor management at the Port of Mombasa, deliberate delays and multiple road checkpoints, some of which operate unofficially.

These bottlenecks increase the cost of moving goods, adding to the cost of doing business and ultimately pushing up prices for consumers.

Importers bear the additional expenses, which are also reflected in the prices of locally manufactured products that depend on imported raw materials.

“Logistics costs are high in Kenya,” said the World Bank in its latest Kenya Economic Update that also focused on constraints limiting economic growth and job creation in Kenya.

“The onward inland transport from Mombasa to Nairobi (480 km) adds a cost of between $850 and $1,250 (about $2.2 per km), that is around one-third of the total. Transporting the same type of container in Europe over an equivalent distance and modality (trucking) incurs a cost of around $720 ($1.5 per km), despite higher fuel and labor costs.

The World Bank noted globally, data shows a systematic relationship between countries with higher levels of corruption and lower performance on overall logistics performance.

It further said that higher costs and time delays related to bribe requests, as well as greater challenges with efficient public investments contribute to lower logistics performance in higher- corruption environments.

“Logistic costs increase due to a combination of constraints. These include problems with Mombasa port management and congestion, intentional and unintentional administrative delays, and official and unofficial checkpoints affecting inland transport,” said the report.

“Mombasa port remains the largest in the East Africa region, but as part of the state-owned Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), it has struggled with good management practices and efficiency. In 2022, Mombasa ranked 326 of 348 ports assessed by the World Bank’s Global Container Port Performance Index (CPPI). For the 2024 round, its ranking dropped further to 375 out of 403 ports included in the index.”

“In contrast, Dakar Port in Senegal saw the greatest efficiency gains in Sub-Saharan Africa, rising from 371 to 108 place in the CPPI within two years, and Tanger-Med Port in Kenya’s aspirational peer Morocco ranks as the fifth most efficient port globally. For businesses, port congestion translates into greater uncertainty, additional costs, and foreclosed opportunities.”

KPA has struggled with frequent changes in top leadership and corruption at different levels, which has slowed down efforts to upgrade port facilities and make operations run smoothly.

As cargo volumes grew and overran the port systems of the late 2000s, the World Bank notes that private inland depots were set up around to handle the extra cargo, which have however been fingered over governance issues.

“Management of the KPA has been affected by managerial instability and rent-seeking—reducing momentum for upgrades and improved efficiency,” said World Bank, also pointing to the high turnover of key staff at KPA that has had five different managing directors over the past decade.

“As freight volumes have outgrown core port capacity in the late 2000s, private dry ports have been licensed around the city. Both the licensing itself and the management of these Container Freight Stations (CFSs) has been flagged as (being) influenced by connectedness rather than competition and increased risks of collusion, mismanagement and corruption.”

The World Bank cited a Shippers Council of Eastern Africa report in 2025 that noted that the cost of logistics at the port remains “alarmingly high” at an estimated 35 to 42 percent of the total landed cost of goods. A recent Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) report also said logitical inefficiencies including transportation costs that account for between 30 and 40 per cent of export values for perishable goods everely erode profitability for sectors such as horticulture and dairy.

The Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) has also made high profile arrests of officials manning different state agencies including those that oversee clearance of goods at the port, including the Kenya Bureau of Standards and the Kenya Revenue Authority, for demanding bribes to clear goods.