Inland Container Depots within the Northern Corridor enhance the Port of Mombasa throughput capacity, the clearance of cargo and container handling. In Kenya, the ICDs are managed by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and linked with the Port of Mombasa by regular container rail services. The depots are located at Nairobi, Kisumu and Eldoret, and have transit sheds and stacking grounds equipped with various types of cargo handling equipment like forklifts trucks, front loaders, tractors, trailers, reach stackers and crane.

The ICDs were established to realize maximum benefits of containerization of cargo, which is the current trend, and to avoid over-investment in port facilities and storage capacity. The ICDs serve as “Dry Ports” linked directly to Mombasa Container Terminal by a special regular “Railtainer” service.

Containers freights stations (CFS), are used for temporary storage of goods in transit and as collection centers for empty containspending repatriation. CFSs are sometimes known as inland ports, as they receive import and export goods on behalf of KPA on contract from the latter. They therefore act as a link for intermodal transport exchange along the Northern Corridor.