Slow offloading of bulk maize import at the Port of Mombasa has been blamed for the scarcity of the government’s subsidized maize flour being experienced in the country.
This is after it emerged that at least two vessels carrying maize have been waiting in the high seas to offload the commodity at the Grain Bulk Handlers Limited (GBHL) facilities at the port for over two weeks.
According to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) list of waiters for conventional berth, the two vessels; MV Costas L which arrived on May 25 is carrying some 37100 metric tonnes and MV Ionic Smyrni loaded with some 41178 bulk maize cannot dock at the port because the offloading facility is still occupied.
Another vessel MV Interlink Priority which arrived on May 23, has been discharging some 37050 metric tonnes of the imported maize for the last three weeks.
A section of the millers have protested over the slow discharge of the maize say it was to blame for the shortage of the subsidized maize flour in the shops.
Speaking on a condition of anonymity, the millers claim that GBHL has been very slow to offload the import to replenish stock imported from Mexico almost a month ago.
However, GBHL has refuted claims of delaying the discharge of the maize and instead blamed millers of slow uptake of their commodity at the silos.
