Jevic in crisis as car dealers cancel inspection orders

Jevic, a pre-shipment inspection company that checks used vehicles before they are imported into Kenya, is facing a customer order cancellation crisis after the standards bureau terminated its contract five months before expiry.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), which licenses pre-shipment inspection companies, last Monday issued a short notice announcing the cancellation of Jevic’s contract that was due to expire on January 15 next year.

The Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Centre (Jevic) managing director for Africa Lee Sayer said in an interview Monday that the company, which has inspected over 300,000 Kenya-bound vehicles, is facing massive cancellations of orders.

“Customers are calling our booking offices and cancelling orders since they are not sure whether our certification will offer them protection once their vehicles arrive at the Mombasa port,” Mr Sayer said in an interview.

Jevic is one of three companies that Kebs contracted in 2012 to conduct second-hand motor vehicle inspection to ensure that cars that are shipped into the country are right-hand drives, are not over eight years old and are roadworthy.

Its two other competitors include Quality Inspection Service Japan and Auto Terminal Japan.

Kebs did not explain the reasons for cancelling Jevic’s licence in the notice.

“This is to notify all importers of motor vehicles into Kenya, that the contract for motor vehicle inspection between Kebs and Jevic has been terminated in line with the current contract that expires on 15th January 2015,” reads Kebs notice.

The State agency did not respond to our requests for comment.

Jevic, which operates locally through a liaison office in Nairobi’s Upperhill, inspects cars shipped into the country from Singapore, Japan, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

“Our clients are instead making orders through our competition because the notice by Kebs can be wrongly interpreted to mean our contract has been terminated with immediate effect,” said Mr Sayer.

Parliament recently threatened to blacklist the company following allegations that it was allowing the importation of vehicles contaminated with radioactive material.

Jevic signed its first contract with Kebs in 2009 and it was Kenya’s sole pre-shipment inspection agency for three years, which helped it to take a market-leader position.

In 2012, Kebs re-tendered for the job and picked Quality Inspection Service Japan and Auto Terminal Japan alongside Jevic to do the job until next January.Kebs has now terminated this Jevic contract while maintaining the rest.