Traders face anxiety ahead of Friday next week when an amnesty to clear overstayed cargo at the Mombasa port expires, leaving many facing higher cost of clearance and possible auction of goods.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) said a special waiver granted on warehouse rent on overstayed cargo at the gateway facility will lapse on August 28.

“Importers are therefore advised to take advantage of the amnesty and clear their goods before the expiry date,” Julius Musyoki, KRA acting commissioner of customs and border control said in a notice.

Authorities at the port in February waived storage charges accrued on all cargo discharged at the facility by November 30, 2014 provided that the cargo was cleared and removed within 60 days. The warehouse rent waiver was further extended by 60 days following a summit by regional Heads of State in Kampala on June 6.

A 20-foot container attracts a storage fee of $25 (Sh2,525) a day and $40 (Sh4,040) for double the size, which the Kenya Ports Authority currently forgoes thanks to the waiver. The overdue cargo also attracts demurrage charges on containers used to store the merchandise.

When the waiver lapses, owners of the overstayed cargo would have to meet the full charges and risk having the cargo auctioned should they fail to remove them from the port.

According to customs regulations, goods have to be cleared within 21 days after which it starts to attract customs warehouse rent.

The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) said that as at July 9 there were 1,976 Uganda bound containers in Mombasa. Of these, 271 have stayed at the port for more than 90 days.

“Owners of these goods are requested to immediately clear the goods out of the port as delays in clearance will lead to accumulation of storage and customs warehouse rent charges,” Dicksons Kateshumbwa, commissioner for customs said in a notice on August 5.

“Please note that prolonged stay may lead to the goods being deemed to have been abandoned and be disposed of through auction to create space for incoming cargo.”

The Kenya Ports Authority has since July come under renewed pressure to clear a fresh backlog of containers at Mombasa port following a workers’ strike that disrupted operations at the busy regional port.

More than 2,000 workers went on strike over two days to protest against higher deductions for the National Hospital Insurance Fund scheme, prompting port management to fire several of them.

The work stoppage disrupted business at the port which handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, leading to a pile up of cargo containers.

Kenya has had numerous feuds with its single largest export market, Uganda over uncollected cargo at the Mombasa port.

Ugandan traders have regularly accused Kenyan authorities over the auction of uncollected cargo at the Mombasa port amid claims of unfairness.

Uganda has in the past accused Kenya of imposing a new non-tariff barrier by “selectively auctioning” Ugandan goods held at the Mombasa port.

The matter has already been escalated to the EAC leadership, placing Kenya and Tanzania under pressure to harmonise their port procedures and charges to ease flow of shipment to landlocked states in East Africa.

An audit of operations at the Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports that was released in February revealed challenges to traders from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda which affected the overall performance of trade in the region.

“The two ports could consider harmonising their port charges, grace period and penalties, in view of the implementation of the EAC single customs territory,” Burundi said in a new report to the bloc’s secretariat.

The two ports are the main gateways to the East African region and also service markets in South Sudan and the Great Lakes region, handling key items including fuel, consumer goods and other imports as well as exports of tea and coffee from the region.

“Dar es Salaam and Mombasa ports, should establish one terminal for all transit containers for EAC countries. For example, you will see at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi that there is a window for EAC citizens only,” said Burundi further in the update published by EAC secretary-general Richard Sezibera.

The claims by Burundi added to a list of concerns by landlocked members of the bloc who felt disadvantaged.

Source: Business Daily

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