Lamu, Kenya
Port · KELAU · -2.20°, 40.91° · Mineral Products, Vegetable Products, Chemical & Allied Industries
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 9
- vessel calls / yr
- 127
About the port
The World Port Index lists Lamu as a small coastal natural harbour with fair shelter.
Listed depths: 5 m in the channel, 5 m at the anchorage and 5 m at the cargo pier, with a mean rise of tide of 3 m.
Entry can be restricted by other conditions.
Pilotage is compulsory.
Repair facilities are rated none.
PortWatch estimates 234 port calls at Lamu from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 20 a month, 655% more than in the twelve months before.
By vessel type, container ships 63%, general cargo ships 28% and dry bulk carriers 4% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 753 thousand t imported and 510 thousand t exported.
The busiest month was Jul 2026 (29 calls) and the quietest Oct 2025 (8).
What is reported near this port
9 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Lamu, the earliest issued in 2008; the most common types are other (4), exercises (3) and piracy (2).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Lamu is not necessarily about the port; collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17.
Port calls per month · IMF PortWatch estimates
Oct 2024 – Sep 2026 (last bar: month in progress) · last complete month Aug 2026: 29 calls, 106 thousand t in, 56 thousand t out
Warnings within 60 nm, by year of issue
In force within 60 nm · 0
Nothing in force within 60 nm right now.
Issued in the last 12 months, now cancelled · 1
Port characteristics · World Port Index
- harbour
- small coastal natural
- shelter
- fair
- water body
- Indian Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA VIII
- depths
- channel 5 m · anchorage 5 m · cargo pier 5 m
- mean rise of tide
- 3 m
- entrance restricted by
- other; not ice
- overhead limits
- no
- turning area
- no
- pilotage
- compulsory
- services
- medical; not dirty ballast reception
- supplies
- water
- repairs
- none
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 171 (Enroute) - East Africa and the South Indian Ocean
- chart
- 61221
World Port Index entry Lamu (No. 47110), matched by UN/LOCODE. NGA Publication 150 (U.S. government work). The index describes the port as last surveyed for the publication; it is not a substitute for Sailing Directions or port authority information.
Share of Kenya's maritime trade through this port (PortWatch): imports 0.2%, exports 2.5%.
Chokepoint and port data: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org) — IMF and the University of Oxford, via the UN Global Platform. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts and port authority notices.