Fiberglass Infrastructure For The Port of Mombasa

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) desires to improve access to reliable and sustainable infrastructure through rehabilitation and extension of office space, decking, wastewater and sanitation facilities and other general architectural work at the Port of Mombasa.

In 2016 we proposed to KPA to carry out  an assessment of existing infrastructure at the port and to develop sustainable solutions to replace the some of the aging infrastructure with sustainable technologies.For us to do this, we needed to evaluate the condition and remaining expected life of some of the current port assets such as   the storm drainage, the sanitary facilities and the  water systems - correlating  them with their design life and determining whether improvements were mandatory.

Our assessment found that the marine coastal environment is  very corrosive to  systems built with steel, wood and concrete. As the port makes progress with its endeavor to make improvements, we proposed architectural fiberglass systems made of reinforcements and thermoset polyester or vinyl ester resin systems for structural materials that were needed to make replacements. Fiberglass structures are strong, attractive, and are able to withstand corrosive salt-water environment with ease. Some of the materials we proposed included the following:


• Fiberglass made handrails, pultruded grating, decking, structural shapes and plates as an attractive, low-maintenance and long-lasting alternative to steel and wood in the corrosive marine environment of Mombasa.

• A wide variety of bar shapes and spacing that could meet specific needs such as the durable non-skid surfaces perfect for the sometimes slippery environments found around the docks and marinas.

• Structural shapes and plate that are the ideal replacement for wood and metal structural materials in the  marine environments .

• Interlocking decking surface material for the walkways and docks. These are lightweight, corrosion- and rot- resistant and are installed quickly and that require virtually no maintenance.

• Sheet Piling and Round Piles for the marine structures such as seawalls and bulkhead alternative to the current steel, concrete, or treated wood.

To begin our work with the the Kenya Ports of Authority and to demonstrate the structural sustainability of fiberglass, we installed fiberglass manhole covers at the main gate of the Port.

Our composite manhole cover installed at the port has now been tested by the heaviest loads coming out of the port for two years with great success. The heavier the load, the more compact the cover becomes ( Concrete would crack and metal would bend at heavier loads). Other infrastructure that could also be replaced with fiberglass in the immediate term include fresh water containment as shown below :

Our exciting work with KPA at the Port of Mombasa continues.