Kenya Ferry Service employees have made plans to stage a strike on Friday, the 12^th of October, 2012. According to Service officials speaking to Pesatalk during a telephone interview, the workers threatened to stop their daily operations unless they are compensated in accumulated bonuses that date as far back as 2010.

The ferry channel employees had initially held peaceful protest on the 1^st of October 2012. They had also made subsequent threats to cease their operations if the Ports Authority failed to pay them their allowances.

The Service reports states that the strike could affect transport to and from the Mombasa Airport based on 2011’s Likoni Ferry crisis where vehicles were stranded for several hours. Ferry Service officials assured the public that Friday’s strike notice had, indeed, been issued, but not yet been confirmed. They noted that the employees were currently holding talks with port officials in a bid to find some common ground.

The service has cited financial sustainability as one of its major challenges. The company reports a rising demand for safe and reliable ferry services, stating that its public image has not been good in the recent past.

The strike threats come just shortly after a truck carrying cooking oil fell from Likoni channel’s infamous ramp, causing services to be suspended for several hours over the weekend. Currently, the government is working on an upgrade for the Likoni ferry terminal which will cost taxpayers about KES 180 million. The Ferry Service reports that the project is aimed at increasing the ramp’s carrying capacity to 3 ferries from its current limit of 2 ferries.

The government aims to reduce traffic around the habour while increasing the number of vehicles and passengers moving through the ramps.