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Kenya: Ports in Dire Need of Security Upgrade
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Miano Kihu
Nairobi
All Kenyan ports require elaborate security measures to counter the growing challenges of piracy, stowaways, terrorism and arms trafficking, Mombasa Port's Harbour Master and Chief Operations Manager, Captain Twalib Khamis, says.
Other modern day threats to Kenyan ports include drug syndicates, sabotage, transport of dangerous goods, destruction of the environment, and cyber crimes.
Khamis told at an international conference on Port and Ship Security held in Cape Town recently that although the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has implemented a series of security improvement measures over the last seven years, more and more challenges continue to emerge thus more attention, resources and strategies must still be directed to the problem.
"Mombasa port is a large facility, a key national asset with a large number of port users and a hub port that is surrounded by tourist resorts. The port also receives numerous foreign vessels. All these factors pose security challenges to us," he said.
Khamis cited the porous coastline, the political instability in Somalia, the past terrorist attacks and the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature of the region, as other challenges.
The maritime security expert therefore is calling for installation of new integrated security systems in the Mombasa port, among others.
He proposes a public address and intercom system for the gates and the other security bodies and the linking of organisations within the port.
Also required is security management software, guard patrol monitoring system to enable the security supervisors to carry out a real time inspection of their security forces activities, a luggage screening system for the cruise ship terminal and installation of main and local security command and control centres systems.
Currently, the port security personnel rely on physical checks on the people entering or getting out of the port. People who frequently visit the port are issued with port passes which are vulnerable to fabrication and transfers to second parties by unscrupulous individuals, as there lacks a readily accessible data base to verify the identity of the pass holder.
Khamis also recommends installation of radio, intercom, lines and fibre-optic communication systems alongside integrated security management software for the security of print documents. He feels that implementation of the new security strategies would consolidate the improvements done over the last seven years.
Indeed, the Mombasa port was among the first ones in Africa to comply with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) prescribed code on port facility and ship security after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
A national maritime and security committee was established in 2001 to advise and spearhead improvement programmes. The committee did a security assessment in 2002 and thrashed out an elaborate action plan in the following year.
Experts from IMO did a needs assessment in 2004 and thereafter the port management appointed a port facility security officer to coordinate security operations and implement the ISPS code to the letter.
The Government gazetted the maritime security regulations in 2004, which was followed by a national workshop on maritime security in the same year. An audit of the ISPS code was done by IMO experts last year.
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