Kenya Shipyards Limited (KSL) has opened a new shipyard facility in the Port city of Mombasa to tap the lucrative business of shipbuilding and repair, according to FleetMon.

It stated: “The new yard can handle ships up to 4000 tons and 150m in length. The East Africa nation has said that the new shipyard is a strategic infrastructure asset that would enable the country to take a piece of the multi-billion-dollar shipbuilding and repair market.

“At the commissioning ceremony of the shipyard, President Uhuru Kenyatta said that the country must tap the opportunities in the sub-sectors of the blue economy, namely fisheries, maritime logistics, and shipbuilding. Mr. President further added that the new shipyard at Mombasa will create new jobs, provide avenues for investment, and ultimately generate revenue.

“The new shipyard has Kenya’s most extended slipway facility for the repair, maintenance, refitting, and construction of ships. There are two hangers present for shipbuilding, the larger one being 150m long and 30m high, whereas the smaller one has 120m length and 20 meters of height. Talking in terms of skilled labor, Kenya already has a trained workforce for welding and ship fitting to meet the staffing requirement of the new shipyard.

“The Kenya Defense Force was actively involved for the past two years in constructing the shipyard. The defense forces will reap the benefit of their efforts as now the coast guard and Navy of the country will have local maintenance access. The facility will be saving the country substantially in terms of foreign exchange that used to go into ship maintenance at foreign shipyards. Kenya is spending well on its infrastructure to live up to its dream of becoming a regional maritime hub.”