Transport

Car importers pay hefty storage charges for lack of number plates

CARS

Second-hand cars at the Port of Mombasa. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Importers of second hand vehicles are set to pay more as dealers face additional storage cost at the Mombasa port due to a shortage of number plates.

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) said last week that it was not in a position to meet the demand for number plates due to “lack of raw materials for production” at Kamiti Maximum prisons.

This has led to congestion at the port because the importers can only clear the cars upon being issued with the registration numbers, a move that clearing companies reckon has caused them about Sh60 million in storage or demurrage costs. About 4,000 second hand cars were stuck at container freight stations since October 18.

“There are delays spanning more than two weeks with an average of Sh60,000 paid as storage per unit, translating to Sh60 million of an average of 500 units’ registrations allocation daily,” said William Ojonyo, the chairman of Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (Kifwa).

The law requires the prisons department to make the plates. It is also mandatory for imported second-hand vehicles to be fitted with number plates before leaving the port.

The rule does not affect new vehicles imported by franchise holders who offload and bond the units in customs warehouses awaiting sale.

The rule is meant to check tax evasion by unscrupulous traders through dumping in the local market cars meant for landlocked Uganda and Rwanda.

“This is therefore to request your good office to work with customs department to allow for physical release of motor vehicles with number allocation without metal plates until your authority streamlines issuance real time on allocated registration numbers,’ said Mr Ojonyo.

Normally, 80 per cent of used motor vehicles are imported by wholesale dealers with the remaining share being taken up directly by consumers.