A total of 764,000 passengers used the Madaraka Express during the period, recording no change from a number gathered a year before/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 29 – The Mombasa – Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) shipped 197,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent containers in the first half of 2019 marking a 155.8 percent growth in cargo freight, compared to 77,020 containers shipped over a similar period in 2018.
The operator attributed the growth to an aggressive marketing strategy targeting importers and exporters in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to use the Mombasa – Nairobi SGR freight services as their preferred logistics partner.
“We have also set up our marketing team and provided practical and feasible advice to Kenya Railway Corporation and relevant authorities for incremental freight transportation,” said Dai Yunjie, spokesperson for Africa Star, the operator of the SGR.
A total of 764,000 passengers used the Madaraka Express during the period, recording no change from a number gathered a year before.
According to Yunjie, this is despite the effects of the Dusit D2 terror attack, which caused a 10.1 per cent drop in passenger traffic in January.
