Malindi Port and the Ferry Terminal

Malindi brings together several different operations along one shore: the commercial section remains behind the fence, while farther north dhows and fishing boats come up to the water. The vessels here had their own pier, breakwater, and warehouses; fresh water and an oil pipeline were brought to them so crews could replenish supplies at the shore. The harbor facilities were built by island and mainland workers hired on six-month contracts with housing, food, and a journey home.

Behind the passenger terminal gates, ferries stand bound for Dar es Salaam and Pemba. Nearby, cargo vessels, dhows, and fishing boats are serviced. The port took its name from the Malindi district, on the northern edge of Stone Town. But concrete piers appeared here only in the nineteen twenties. Before that, large steamships remained at anchor, while people, baggage, and goods were carried between ship and shore on lighters—small cargo vessels.

For the new harbor, the administration sacrificed Zanzibar's first railway. It linked the city with the settlement of Bububu and carried passengers along the western coast. In July nineteen twenty-two, passenger service was discontinued, and the locomotives and carriages were adapted to deliver stone for the construction of Malindi.

Among those recruited for the work were two hundred men from Tanganyika, the mainland territory opposite Zanzibar. They agreed to leave on six-month contracts for cash earnings. Under the terms of employment, they were entitled to food, housing, medical care, and a journey home after the contract ended. These people built the harbor facilities while Zanzibaris argued over whether the island needed a construction project on such a scale.

In nineteen twenty-five, the East African Commission, which reviewed economic projects in British possessions, came to Zanzibar. Sultan Khalifa bin Harub, the formal head of Zanzibar under the British protectorate, sought a review of the port construction. Alongside him spoke the Zanzibar Chamber of Commerce, the Arab Association, and the Indian National Association—organizations of merchants whose incomes depended on importing goods and exporting cloves.

These groups usually defended different interests. Here, they told the commission the same thing: the work had begun without discussion with residents, the project had ballooned, and public money was being wasted. The merchants needed a convenient port, but without roads it was still difficult to bring goods from the plantations to the pier. The commission agreed with the objections and recommended scaling back the port project and directing the released funds to road construction.

That recommendation did not stop the construction. Malindi was already receiving lighters; then workers built a pier, a breakwater, and warehouses. Fresh water and an oil pipeline were brought to the vessels: crews could replenish supplies and take on fuel at the shore. On August thirty-first, nineteen twenty-nine, the railway carriages made their final trip. In October, the completed facilities were handed over to the same Sultan Khalifa bin Harub who had demanded that the project be reduced four years earlier. In November, the harbor officially opened.

Later, the piers were expanded and rebuilt, and two old port warehouses were demolished. Malindi nevertheless retained the division devised then: passengers pass through their own terminal, commercial cargo through the fenced port area, while dhows and fishing vessels berth farther north. In July two thousand twenty-six, cargo ferries had already been moved to the new Maruhubi Terminal; passenger boarding remained in Malindi for the transition period.

People with tickets and baggage still come to the current pier. Stone for its predecessor was brought by the Bububu railway; the port itself remained, but its tracks are no longer at Malindi.