Transporters seek talks with ministry over axle load row
A weighbridge along Mombasa-Nairobi road. The truckers say weighing a vehicle based on the axle —each axle is allowed a limit of eight tonnes — is unfair because some loads, such as clinker and liquid, keep shifting. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
Transporters stopped loading their trucks last Friday after they lost a petition in court where they were demanding that the maximum load on a truck be based on gross rather than single axle weight.
Container Freight Stations (CFS) operators said movement of cargo had slowed in the past two days, and the situation was expected to get worse if a solution was not found.
Transporters are expected to hold a meeting with Ministry of Roads officials Thursday over the controversial axle load limit rule that has left more than 1,000 trucks stranded on the Northern Corridor.
Transporters stopped loading their trucks last Friday after they lost a petition in court where they were demanding that the maximum load on a truck be based on gross rather than single axle weight.
“We hope the issues will be resolved as soon as possible but as things stand now, we are not loading our trucks,” said Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) Chief Executive Jane Njeru.
Container Freight Stations (CFS) operators said movement of cargo had slowed in the past two days, and the situation was expected to get worse if a solution was not found.
“Since transporters withdrew their trucks, we have seen a drop of about 20 per cent in the number of containers collected from the CFSs,” said CFS Association of Kenya CEO Daniel Nzeki.
The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) started enforcing the law immediately it was passed, which led to withdrawal of trucks by transporters from loading points.
More than 1,000 trucks that had been loaded before implementation of the rule have been pulled off the Northern Corridor, according to KTA.
The truckers say weighing a vehicle based on the axle —each axle is allowed a limit of eight tonnes — is unfair because some loads, such as clinker and liquid, keep shifting.
“Based on this formula, a truck is charged for overloading on the axle despite conforming to the gross weight limit of 48 tonnes,” said Ms Njeru.
However, KeNHA insists that the axle should be used to weigh trucks because it is the part of the vehicle that exerts pressure on the road and not the truck’s gross weight.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) general manager in charge of operations, Captain Twalib Khamis, however, said transfer of cargo from the port had not been affected since CFS operators had individual contracts with transporters.
Each day, between 1,000 and 1,400 containers are ferried from the port to the CFS, Mr Khamis said. Around 95 per cent of all the cargo coming in through the port is ferried to its final destination by road, on trucks.
CFS operators said the impact of the strike by truckers would be felt this weekend since cargo has been moving from the port to the facilities where off-take was slow.
The Northern Corridor, which connects landlocked countries of Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Sudan to the coast, is notorious for inefficiency caused by delays, unofficial charges and non-tariff barriers.
