Move comes in the midst of a row with freighters on directive to transport cargo via SGR
Empty containers through the ICD for railage will not be charged any storage fee for the first seven days
The ICD has a capacity to handle 450,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) per year, up from its original design of 180,000 TEUs per year.
The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has cut the free storage period for containers at the inland depot in Embakasi from 11 days to four days as it fights to clear a backlog of about 1,700 uncollected units.
The move comes in the midst of a row with freighters who have defied a government directive to transport their imported cargo via the standard gauge rail (SGR).
Under the new tariff which takes effect on May 1, domestic import container through the Inland Container Depot (ICD) will pay Sh2,000 and Sh30,000 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.
Empty containers
On the other hand, empty containers through the ICD for railage will not be charged any storage fee for the first seven days.
However, KPA will charge Sh1,500 and Sh2,200 for a 20-foot and a 40-foot container respectively in storage fee after the four days period until the container is removed from the depot.
The adjustments will also see pre-advised empty containers through ICD for repatriation pay no fee for the first seven days to vessel berthing.
Importers will however part with Sh1,500 and Sh2,200 for a 20-foot and a 40-foot container respectively after the four-day period until the container is removed from the port or loaded onto a vessel.
“I wish to clarify that for ICD standard gauge rail container, the counting for the free storage period starts when the containers land at the ICD not in Mombasa and the shipping lines have been advised accordingly of this arrangement for purposes of charging container demurrage,” said KPA Managing Director Catherine Mturi.
