“The consignment was cleared automatically in the system, after the importer’s clearing agent, Express Shipping and Logistics (ESL), lodged entries in the system and paid the duty of Sh65 million before the arrival of the cargo,” said the Commissioner.

The tax collector expects the next bulk consignments of  42,000 metric tonnes of clinker and 25,540 metric tonnes of coal to be cleared through the system.

The former arrived at the Port of Mombasa on 7th August on-board MV Boreas Venture and the latter is expected to arrive on August, 21 by MV African Hoeg respectively.

Clearance of cargo through the new system is a major milestone for KRA in tis bid to expedite customs clearance of cargo and enhance trade facilitation.

The iCMS was introduced to replace the 12-year-old Simba System with key innovations, including automated valuation bench-marking, the automated release of green-channel cargo, importer validation and declaration, and linkage with iTax.

“iCMS will reduce the cargo dwell time for compliant imports at the Port of Mombasa since the system does not require human intervention at the document processing center, unlike the Simba System,” said the tax collector.

iCMS has been implemented in phases. The clearance module for air cargo went live on 10th May 2019, while the roll-out for land and sea cargo began on 7th July 2019

Source Capital FM

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.