Press Center | Freight Shipping Logistics News

A group of container freight station operators have accused the Kenya Ports Authority of favouring a few stations when deciding where to send cargo for storage.

The operators on Wednesday said most of the cargo arriving at the port was being sent to only three stations, and that some port officials had interests in the favoured stations.

“For instance, in January, a total of 4,320 containers were nominated to a single freight station, whereas another one got only 246,” said one operator who declined to be named for fear of being victimised.

But the port’s public relations officer, Mr Hajji Masemo, said the authority cannot nominate cargo to some freight stations because they do not have enough capacity, including handling equipment.

“When a vessel arrives with, say, 1,000 containers, we cannot take this cargo to a CFS that cannot hold this number. For logistics reasons, we cannot split the containers and the entire manifest has to be handled at one facility,” Mr Masemo said.

But the operators said it was not a case of lack of capacity.

“How else do you explain the fact that some CFSs handle thousands of containers while only a few go to others? It is not a problem of capacity,” said another operator who also sought anonymity, adding that they had complained to the authorities but nothing had been done.

There are 16 stations licensed by the Kenya Revenue Authority, but cargo is sent to only seven.

The stations have been hailed as the reason behind efficiency in cargo handling at the port.

The Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association, which represents clearing agents, has in the past complained that cargo was nominated to the freight stations without its authority.