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A three-day regional conference on the Northern Transport Corridor is scheduled to be held in Mombasa from tomorrow at the Sarova Whitesands hotel to discuss measures of trade facilitation.
A three-day regional conference on the Northern Transport Corridor is scheduled to be held in Mombasa from tomorrow at the Sarova Whitesands hotel to discuss measures of trade facilitation.

 

Organised by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA), East African Community (EAC), Comesa and USAID, the conference is targeting coming up with measures to make the route, which is one of the most expensive in the region, become  competitive.

 

Shippers using the port of Mombasa have in the past complained that logistic cost of handling cargo from the port of Mombasa to the end users is over 40 percent of the ocean freight due to unjustified charges introduced by service providers.

 

This cost can be reduced by over a half if the efficiency along the corridor is improved to check delays, the Kenya Shippers Council (KSC) executive director Mr Gilbert Langat said in a recent interview.

 

 “The cost of delays represents a significant proportion of the whole import process cost, accounting for about 23 percent of the total import cost,” a working group on commercial maritime services that is lobbying for structured dialogue when introducing charges said in a recent report.

 

If accepted, the proposed dialogue model will be incorporated by respective governments as rules and regulations and will protect shippers from these unjustified charges.

 

 

The proposed model targets port and terminal operators, shippers, shipping lines, clearing agents, and Container Freight Services (CFS). Other agencies targeted include transporters, government ministries and maritime regulatory authorities.

 

 

Despite the huge investment undertaken by the KPA in improving cargo handling operations, there is insufficient harmonisation with other cargo handling agents.

 

 

“KPA does not have control of the movement of the cargo,” Mr Langat said. Delays in making decisions and slow movement of documents from one point to the other are among the key areas causing delays.

 

“If we are able to automate all the cargo handling processes, we shall be able to reduce the dwell time and reduce the cost of transport by more than a half,” Langat added. The decline in railway performance, currently managing only 6 percent of the cargo from the port, against a project capacity of 30 percent, has also increased the cost of transport.   

 

The conference has been organised by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA), East African Community (EAC), Comesa and USAID among other participants.