Kenya Ports Authority is concerned over the long stay of containers destined for Uganda at the Mombasa port, and is now threatening to sell off any cargo that is not cleared by April 15.

According to the authority, the Ugandan business community, which remains the top transit users of the port, has not effectively been clearing cargo on time.

As of March 4, there were 2,435 containers (3,464 twenty-foot equivalent units) for Uganda customers that have been at the port beyond 21 days. 293 units (393 TEU’s) have been in the port for more than three months according to KPA, despite the authority giving an amnesty to specified Uganda cargo in the port to avoid being auctioned.

KPA will be forced to auction the cargo to create space at the port if the owners don’t clear it by the expiry of the amnesty which is April 15.

“From the trend of things, it is apparent that many cargo owners have not responded to the amnesty. We therefore appeal to you to take urgent steps and clear the cargo before they are auctioned to create space for business,” said KPA managing director Gichiri Ndua in a statement.

“An efficient port should have ample yard space all the time to afford flexible shore handling operations. This prime space can only be made available consistently when customers are equally ready to remove their containers from the port immediately they land or within the allowed free stay period,” he added.

Cargo owners are allowed a free stay for the first fifteen consecutive days for transit import containers, thereafter upto the date container is removed from the port or is customs warehouse due, attracts a charge of $20 (about Sh 1,844) per day for a 20-foot container.

A 40-foot container attracts a charge of $30 (Sh 2,766) per day at the current exchange rate.

Transit export containers are allowed a free stay for the first 21 days thereafter, charged $16 (Sh 1,475) per day for 20-foot container and $24 (Sh 2,213) for a 40-foot container.

Importers have had their cargo auctioned for failing to clear them on time, accumulating thousands of shillings in taxes, which they fail to raise.

Meanwhile, the authority has also asked the Uganda business community to make use of KPA’s liaison office in Kampala.

According to KPA, many are still least informed about what is happening at the port and along the northern corridor and they still direct their complaints directly to Mombasa instead of having them sorted out in Kampala.

“We request you therefore to maximize use of the office to save you time and money of travelling or dealing directly with Mombasa,” said Ndua.

Uganda remains the leading transit destination of cargo through the port of Mombasa controlling a 74 per cent market share.

It is followed by South Sudan which is the newly emerging market with 10.6 per cent share of the total transit Cargo, DRC is third with 5.7 per cent share.

Others are Rwanda (3.3 per cent), Tanzania (2.6 per cent) and Burundi with 1.1 per cent market share of the total transit cargo.

Source: The Star

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