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CMA CGM has announced an investment of $800 million in Kenya's Mombasa Port. The deal was signed on the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi early this week, co-hosted by France with President Emmanuel Macron in attendance.
The investment will go into upgrading two Mombasa Container Terminals at a time when the Kenyan port is seeing increased cargo flows. Last year, Mombasa Port handled 2.11 million TEUs, recording a growth of 5.5 percent from the previous year.
With these record cargo levels, Mombasa port is said to be operating at almost its full capacity. This has prompted the Kenyan government to introduce some reforms, including transitioning the port into a landlord model. In April, the National Treasury said that it had opened up several Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) assets to private investors. These include Mombasa Port Container Terminal II (berths 20-22) and Mombasa Port Container Terminal (berths 23-224).
The CMA CGM investment is likely happening under this arrangement, as the company has pledged to reinforce its logistics and maritime capacities in East and Central Africa. Mombasa Port is a trade gateway for East Africa's landlocked countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan.
While Mombasa Port attracted the French deal, Kenya's greenfield port of Lamu also celebrated an operational milestone this week. The port received MV Baltimore Express, the largest containership to ever dock at any port in East and Central Africa. The Post-Panamax vessel, measuring 369 meters in length, arrived from Oman's Salalah port. The vessel is operated by the German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd. The vessel is at the port to restow some of the dangerous cargo onboard. In 2025, Lamu's cargo volume rose by over 900 percent, from 74,380 tons in 2024 to 799,161 tons last year. The growth can be partly attributed to the port's rising transshipment role.
CMA CGM added that its funding for Mombasa port development follows its recent opening of an African regional office in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. In the past few years, CMA CGM has become heavily involved in port upgrades on the African continent. In Nigeria, for instance, the company is part of the 100 percent electric barge project at the Lekki Deep Sea Port. In Egypt and Morocco, the company has also invested in container terminal infrastructure.
Fuente: Maritime Executive
