Ugandan traders on the spot over cargo pile-up at Mombasa port

Ugandan traders are on the spot for choking the Mombasa port with thousands of uncollected cargo containers ahead of an expected surge in trade volumes at the harbour.

Some 3,698 cargo containers destined for Uganda remained uncollected at the port as at last Monday, raising concerns of clogging at the port when business picks up after the festive season.

A shipping list released by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Tuesday showed an anticipated jump in the volume of activity at the port with some 34 container ships expected to dock over the next 14 days.

Traders and transporters told the Business Daily that Kenyan and Ugandan authorities were exerting pressure on cargo owners to clear the goods to avert a pile-up.

“The pressure is mainly on Ugandan traders because the costs involved in carrying the cargo through to their country may be prohibitive, especially if they accrued storage charges,” Abdul Nadhif, a cargo dealer said.

Shipping a container from Tokyo to Mombasa costs less than transporting it to Uganda from the port, the World Bank said in 2012, and there has been little improvement since then.

READ: High costs in Kenya push traders to Dar port

The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) on Monday issued a notice to traders to clear their cargo from the port to avoid penalties, including auctioning of overstayed goods.

“Owners of the goods are requested to immediately clear the goods out of the port as delays in clearance will lead to accumulation of storage and customs warehouse charges,” Richard Kamajugo, commissioner for customs said in a notice to traders.

“Please note the goods may be deemed to have been abandoned and be disposed of through auction to create space for incoming cargo.”

As part of a strategy to sustain flow of cargo at the port, KPA maintained normal clearance schedules over the festive season. But even with that, statistics showed that about 85 per cent of the Ugandan cargo lying at the port arrived in December, meaning most traders did not take advantage of the gesture by KPA.

READ: KPA sets deadline to free up port

In a deal between Kenya and Uganda, cargo containers destined for Uganda through Mombasa port have since March last year been publicly listed to help ease congestion at the region’s main gateway facility through efficient and timely flow of information.

A special online portal provides an account of all container shipments bound for Kenya’s largest export market, including the date and time of arrival at the port of Mombasa, the consignees and the duration at the facility.

This follows a pact signed between the KPA and URA to hasten cargo clearance in what is expected to shake up the clearing and forwarding agency business.

“People no longer have any excuses not to pick their cargo from Mombasa and most importantly, they do not have to rely on agents or other people thousands of miles away for information regarding their cargo,” said Mr Kamajugo when the arrangement came into effect.

Mombasa port has in recent years experienced cargo congestion, which KPA attributed to a lack of space following delays by importers and clearing agents to promptly collect containers from the port and the various container freight stations.

The port is seen as a measure of economic activity in East Africa as it handles fuel, consumer goods and other imports for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, DRC and Somalia as well as exports of tea and coffee from the region.

The port handled one million, 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo between January and December, up from 894,000 TEUs in 2013. It expects a 30 per cent increase to 1.3 million TEUs in 2015.