MORE FERRY BREAKDOWNS FRUSTRATE COMMUTERS AND INFURIATE TOURISM OPERATORS
(Posted 22nd August 2015)
The breakdown of two ferries at once during the Friday evening rush-hour, when commuters are both streaming from and to the island of Mombasa, has once again caused havoc at the landing sites.
Only last week did one of the ferries come out of the dry dock after an engine overhaul which lasted several months but instead of helping to normalize the situation have fresh breakdowns now made things worse once more.
MV Harambee and MV Nyayo broke both down almost simultaneously, leading not only to massive traffic jams on both sides of the Likoni channel but also chaotic scenes among pedestrian commuters, many of which reportedly got injured in the ensuing rush to board the remaining ferries when they had docked.
Tourism stakeholders dismissed the ferry company’s suggestion that there is never time for maintenance because the ferries are overused as cheap and useless rhetoric and condemned the latest breakdowns in the sharpest terms, after the traffic backlog at one stage reached over 4 kilometres into Mombasa.
‘Tourism is just starting to pick up again and some of the tourists were stuck in the traffic jam on both sides, some going to the airport, others returning from day trips or short safaris. If the managers of Kenya Ferry Services cannot manage they should resign and make space for more competent individuals. Instead they take us for fools the way they try to explain their constant failures away. This is unacceptable, it is like sabotage really’ ranted a regular source from Mombasa when passing on the information yesterday evening.
Two new ferries are expected to join the existing fleet of five by the end of 2016 but in view of growing traffic volumes this will probably be just a drop on the proverbial hot stone. Relief will likely only come for long suffering commuters when the new bypass highway from the international airport to the South coast is complete by 2018.
Tourism to the Kenya coast has started to notably pick up in recent weeks with more charter flights arriving at the Moi International Airport again and tour operators are concerned that the destination makes a good impression on the visitors rather than ambushing them on arrival or on departure with ferry failures and long waits.
