Transport

Plan to decongest Nairobi inland depot is rolled out

manduku

The KPA acting managing director Daniel Manduku. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is this week expected to start evacuating 3,000 long-stay containers from the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi (ICDN) to Makongeni Kenya Railways goods yard.

Head of Inland Container Depot Symon Wahome said the evacuation is meant to decongest the overstretched Nairobi dry port. The exercise will be carried through the Rapid Results Initiative(RRI) and a multi-government agencies approach.

"Through the RRI, we want now to evacuate containers that have overstayed for 21 days at the ICDN, and which by law are required to be taken to custom warehouse,” said Mr Wahome.

About 6,500 containers are still lying uncollected at the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Embakasi, causing massive congestion at the Sh21 billion facility which was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta last December

He said in conjunction with the Kenya Railways (KR), they have agreed to use two out of the five acres yard for storage of the cargo.

All the goods will be hauled to the yard on temporarily basis as they wait for the owners to clear them.

“Also empty containers freight to Mombasa will no longer be stored here but will be evacuated to the Nairobi Freight Terminal yard,” said Mr Wahome.

Mr Wahome said importers whose cargo will be taken to the Makongeni yard will have to pay Sh2,000 transfer fee for a twenty foot equivalent (teus) and Sh3, 000 for a 40ft container.

“We have discovered that there are containers that have stayed at ICDN for more than three months without the owners clearing them,” Mr Wahome said.

“These containers have clogged the space but we are now going to transfer them at the owners cost.”

The transfer of the containers, he said will be done in collaboration with all other cargo interveners including the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Bureau of Standard (Kebs) and Kenya Plant Kenya health inspectorate Service (Kephis).

Sources said last week, Transport Principal Secretary Esther Koimet toured the facility and called for quick intervention to address the congestion at the facility.

Mr Wahome spoke to journalists at the ICDN even as KPA General Manager Operations Captain William Ruto said the authority was in talks to purchase 65 acres of land to expand the ICDN.

The land is located near the current facility but Mr Ruto did not disclose the cost, saying discussions were ongoing on the matter.

“I cannot say at the moment how much will cost the organisation since we are still in talks. Our long-term target for the cargo pile-up at the ICD was to get more land,” Mr Ruto said.

“We have the budget and have already identified the 65 acres which once acquired will expand the facility which is currently sitting on 98 acres of land.”

ICDN is currently overstretched by more than 7,000 twenty foot-equivalent units (teus). The facility presently handles eight SGR cargo trains from Mombasa every day with each train carrying 108 teus. That translates to 864 teus everyday.

“The yard capacity is currently at 14,770 teus, whereas the efficiency should be 40 per cent of the total capacity which is supposed to be 6,000 teus,” said Mr Ruto.

The KPA acting managing director Daniel Manduku said in an interview in Nairobi that only 7,500 containers out of about 14,000 have been moved to five storage facilities leased by KPA to boost Nairobi ICD capacity.

“We still have about 6,500 container lying at the ICD against a total capacity of 14, 000,” said Mr Manduku.

“We are dealing with it. In fact tomorrow, we have a meeting to start the process of decongesting the containers to local warehouses we have leased,’ he added.

Currently, the inland depot has the capacity to handle 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year, up from its original design of 180,000 TEUs.

Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban development and Public Works Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the ministry is working closely with other government agencies to address the challenges at the ICDN and enhance ease of doing business at the depot.

“The Nairobi facility was upgraded, and its annual capacity expanded from 180,000 teus to 450,000 teus. We are aware that since we commissioned the freight service, operations at the ICD have been at optimal levels. However, owing to slow cargo evacuation from the depot and mix of logistical hitches, we have been experiencing intermittent congestion,” Mr Macharia said.

“Nonetheless, my Ministry is working closely with other government agencies to address the shortcomings and enhance ease of doing business.”

Mr Macharia was speaking during the KPA stakeholders luncheon at Villa Rosa Kempinski,in Nairobi, last week.

Those in attendance included, Transport Principal Secretary Esther Koimett, KPA board chairman Gen. (Rtd) Joseph Kibwana, and KPA acting Managing Director Daniel Manduku.

In May, the KPA cut the free storage period for containers at the inland depot in Embakasi from 11 days to four days in a bid to clear a backlog of about 2, 000 uncollected units.

Under the new tariff, domestic import container through the ICD have been paying Sh2,000 and Sh3,000 for a 20-foot container and 40-foot container respectively in storage fee should they fail to collect their cargo after the free storage period.

The KPA has been charging Sh1,500 and Sh2,200 for a 20-foot and a 40-foot container respectively in storage fee after the four-day period until the container is removed from the depot.

Clearing companies and importers claim they have lost about Sh18.7 million in container retention charges to shipping lines because of delays at the ICD.

The Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (Kifwa) chairman William Ojonyo says that a further Sh2 million has been lost on demurrage to the KPA with every importer recording about Sh300,000 loss on the same.