Persistent delays at Nairobi’s Inland Container Depot (ICD) have spilled into other East African states, forcing shippers in the region to ditch Kenya’s standard gauge railway services.
Shippers in Uganda, the destination of over 70 per cent of Mombasa Port’s transit cargo, say they are back to trucking cargo after the ICD delays exposed their businesses to high demurrage charges.
“Even risk takers like myself, the well-known early adopters of everything new, have said no to SGR until its operations are streamlined,” says Ms Jennifer Mwijukye, chief executive of Kampala-based Unifreight Cargo Handling Company. “The last time I tried the SGR, our containers stayed in Nairobi for two months.”
Early this year, the government directed that all goods heading to Nairobi and destinations beyond it be cleared at the ICD instead of Mombasa port.
According to Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (KIFWA), 98 per cent of containers that pass through the Embakasi ICID have incurred demurrage charges due to the regulatory delays.
“It has become impossible to clear containers within the four-day grace period because Kenya Revenue Authority insists on 100 per cent verification of containers that pass through the ICD,” says Kifwa chairman William Ojonyo.
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