- Pile-up comes after a meeting convened in May by the EAC Roads, Transport and Works Cabinet ministers resolved to address congestion at Malaba.
- Auxiliary roads and more scanners promised. Truckers returned after political protests ended.
Image: EMOJONG OSERE
@eosere
Cargo backlog in Malaba entered day four on Wednesday with truck drivers calling on authorities to hasten cross-border freight movement.
The pile-up came after a regional meeting convened in May by the East African Community Roads, Transport and Works Cabinet ministers resolved to address the decongestion problem at Malaba.
More scanners will be installed to hasten clearance.
Truck drivers said on Wednesday delays in cargo clearance is costly.
The accumulation of cargo began on Saturday when the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA)announced a shutdown of all its systems for routine maintenance and upgrade.
The pile-up has, however, continued despite the system returning to life on Sunday afternoon.
URA had said in a notice seen by the Star that it would shut its system between July 22 and July 23 for 12 hours, and as a result all the agency’s services would be unavailable from Saturdayat 11pm to Sunday at 11am.
Truck drivers said on Wednesday with the system returning to life there was need for officials at the border to hasten cargo clearance to reduce congestion.
Driver Ronny Kasamaniv plying the Mombasa-Kampala route said following the upgrade of URA's system, border cargo movement should be fast.
During the EAC Roads, Transport and Works Cabinet ministers meeting n Kampala, decongestion at Malaba was discussed in detail. In one resolution, Kenya and Uganda moved to clear backlog at the border and planned the installation of more scanners to hasten cargo clearance.
Roads and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen and his Ugandan counterpart Musa Ecweru after the Kampala meeting drove to Malaba. There they announced the two countries will also be constructing auxiliary roads on both sides of the border to limit traffic jams by cargo trucks.
The measures, they said, will be implemented as Kenya and Uganda work on plans to extend the standard gauge railway line from Naivasha to Kampala and to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On Wednesday, some sources at the border attributed the backlog to the variation in work efficiency among customs officials.
A clearing agent said some officials move cargo slowly while others clear cargo at a higher speed.
The agent also said there has generally been a higher volume of cargo arriving in Malaba compared to previous days.
He also said the backlog may have been caused by transporters who returned to work following the suspension of a go-slow staged by some transporters protesting the high cost of fuel.
Cargo movers resumed work after suspending operations as a result of Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance high cost of living protests.
“During demonstrations, many transporters parked their trucks,” he said.
“But when Azimio announced that demonstrations had been called off, they all came back to work and now for every 10 minutes you find 10 trucks arriving.”
TRADE VOLUMES
The Malaba border is the busiest crossing point for trucks using the Northern Corridor, which connects landlocked countries of Uganda, DR Congo, South Sudan and parts of Rwanda and Burundi to the Port of Mombasa.
Approximately 1,000 cargo trucks pass through the Malaba One Stop Border Post each day, while the one in Busia handles an average of 600 trucks.
Uganda is the biggest destination for transit cargo through Mombasa, accounting for about 83.2 per cent of transit volumes, according to the Kenya Ports Authority.
South Sudan takes up 9.9 per cent while DR Congo, Tanzania and Rwanda account for 7.2 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.
In January, delays at the border affected truck turn-around time between Mombasa and Kampala, which increased to 10 days from e and a half.
Logistics costs remain high in Kenya, estimated at between 30 per cent to 42 per cent of the goods value, against best the global best practice of eight per cent.
According to the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa Logistics Performance Survey 2021, transport costs stand at $1.8 (Sh219.56) per kilometre per container, against world’s best practices of $1 (Sh121.98) per kilometre, per container.
With the high fuel costs, there has been a rise in road transport costs.
For instance, moving a 20-foot container from Mombasa to Nairobi now costs an average Sh100,000and above, from an average of Sh80,000.