More than 4,000 imported second-hand vehicles are lying at container freight stations (CFS) in Mombasa, and owners are being charged Sh3,000 daily for delayed clearance.
It is 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.
A shortage of vehicle number plates has hit the Kenyan market, causing a backlog in the clearance of used cars at the Mombasa port since last week.
More than 4,000 imported second-hand vehicles are lying at container freight stations (CFS) in Mombasa, and owners are being charged Sh3,000 daily for delayed clearance.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) attributed the shortage of the plates to lack of raw materials for production amid an increase in demand for car registration. Kenya car number plates are manufactured at Kamiti Maximum Prison.
“We are having a problem with supply of number plates from Kamiti Maximum Prisons to meet our demand,” Jacqueline Githinji, the director for registration and licensing at NTSA told the Business Daily in a phone interview on Thursday.
“We have actually written to the Commissioner General of prisons to intervene. They are not producing because there are no raw materials to make the plates.”
The law requires the prisons department to make the plates. It is 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.
“We have been having the plates until two weeks ago when we started experiencing the supply problems,” says Charles Munyori, the chair of Kenya Auto Bazaar Association — second-hand car importers lobby.
Dealers said the shortage had hit them hard as they were forced to incur storage charges at the port amid cash flow hiccups due to delays as some are servicing loans.
The storage charges are based on the volume of vehicles and the number of days they take at the Mombasa port or at container freight stations.
“Container Freight Stations charges an average of Sh3,000 in storage fee per vehicle a day. This is an extra cost importer should not incur due to inefficiencies by the NTSA,” said Mr Munyori.
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