The east African nation is the world's largest exporter of black tea and disruptions at the port, where a weekly tea auction also features tea from neighboring landlocked producers like Burundi, could disrupt shipments.
"The tea and coffee we export is from the hinterland and has to be transported to Mombasa, so if the trucks are not working, that is obviously a problem for our export trade," an official at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the port operator, told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The port also handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
"A pile up is looming at the port. We are offloading ships, but there are no trucks to carry the cargo out of the port," said the official, adding that storage space could run out.
" Space is quickly diminishing and it might soon be a crisis if government and the transporters don't agree quickly."
Around 95 percent of all the cargo coming in through the port is ferried to its final destination by road, with trucks the main mode of transport.
The Kenya Transporters Association (KTA), a body whose 400 members have around 50,000 trucks, has called for an indefinite strike in protest over a law which limits weight loads on vehicles depending on the axle.
Jane Njeru, the KTA chief executive, said the association's members have been instructed to stop loading all cargo from Mombasa with immediate effect.
"We want government to authorize that trucks be weighed by the gross vehicle weight system, and not the axle load system. Our trucks will remain parked at the yards. We know its already affecting the port, but that's not our fault," she said.
Last month, the port was paralyzsed by two days of strikes, after more than half of KPA employees demanded permanent contracts. (Reuters)
