Officials propose tougher rules on axle load control

All cargo loading points in the country will be required to have weigh bridges to ensure cargo is compliant with axle limit rules from the source, an inter ministerial technical committee on axle load control has recommended.

Following the government’s directive in 2008 that reduced the number of axles from four to three and reduced the maximum load on the road to 28 tonnes, some unscrupulous transporters have been breaching it by bribing their way through, frustrating the government’s efforts to curb the vice.

Without the weighing bridges at Mombasa port and at the Container Freight Stations (CFS) which are currently handling all the local cargo, there are no sufficient mechanisms to control overloading for Mombasa- bound cargo since it does not necessarily pass through the mandatory Mariakani and Athi River weighbridges.

The committee recommends suitably equipped mobile weighbridge units to be introduced to cover specific road networks with authorisation to stop any vehicle.  If the recommendations are adopted, all firms handling or generating cargo for road transport will be required to issue a certificate showing compliance with the permitted maximum gross vehicle weight.

The committee was formed last year as a follow up to the 21 August presidential directive requiring the ministries of roads, energy and transport to liaise and work out modalities of ensuring vehicles at the point of loading at the port of Mombasa and the Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) complied with axle load limit.

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the report observes, weighs all the export cargo for operational purposes. All in-bound containerised cargo for rail transport is also weighed at the port and the maximum weight allowed is 34 tonnes.

However, cargo meant for road transport, which constitutes over 90 per cent of all the cargo handled is not weighed at all.

The Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) chief executive officer, Ms Eunice Mwanyalo, said the individual transporters have positioned weighing bridges at the port for their own convenience but they are not bound to use them.

She said KTA was working on a code of conduct that will require all transporters affiliated to the association to use a mobile weighbridge.

“It has been noted that a significant proportion of heavy goods vehicles using the Northern Corridor including those on transit to neighbouring countries are overloaded and damage road infrastructure,” the report said and added that this would only be achieved by identifying and eliminating administrative and other operational weaknesses in axle load control.

One of the measures the government adopted to control overloading last year was privatisation of the weighing bridge. Although the government has already privatised Mariakani weighing bridges, cases of overloaded trucks have been reported due to corruption.

The Mariakani weighbridge has already been automated after intense lobbying by the industry players for the government to adopt it in order to eradicate corruption.

According to a source that uses the bridge and cannot be named for fear of victimisation, the overloaded trucks are now avoiding the bridges.

There is also the problem of the law enforcement according to the committee. “The bulk liquid tankers mounted on vehicles and trailers are not calibrated to comply with permissible maximum weights in the Traffic Act,” said the report, adding that some transit tankers loading at oil depots have capacity of up to 60,000 litres.

All bulk liquid tankers, the report said, must be calibrated and verified and those with excess capacity must be re-fabricated.

“All bulk liquid tankers must have a pictorial depiction on each side of the tanker showing the axle configuration and the maximum volume of the tanker,” the committee said.

“All bulk liquid tankers must have an identification plate indicating the name of manufacturer, year of manufacture, serial number and capacity,” adds the report.

It also proposes that the government should make it mandatory for oil marketers to transport all white petroleum products by pipeline between Mombasa and Nairobi.

From January to October, according to Mr Ogara Okech, the manager at Mariakani weighing bridge, 1,439 trucks were prosecuted and fined a total of Sh56.5 million, for overloading up to 15 tonnes.

Minimum fines stipulated under the Traffic Act, according to the report, for overloading offences were ignored by the Law Courts. The law identifies three offenders as the driver, the owner and the loader. 

“Many courts only fine the driver. The Traffic Act and the Kenya Roads Act provide for restitution measures for damage to road infrastructure,” says the report.

That committee want overloading decriminalised and introduction of spot fines for overloading offences by instituting and recovering overloading fees which are punitive with respect to the level of overloading and cover damage to the road, enforcement and administrative costs. Proposed penalties for overloading are Sh10,000 plus up to Sh380 per overload ton/Km of travel. 

The committee also wants the vehicle inspection sticker to be modified to include vehicle tare weight. The government should also re-introduce TLB licenses for all commercial vehicles.

A standing Oversight Committee comprising key stakeholders has been recommended to oversee axle load control measures in Kenya.