The currency in the state is very weak and slowly the county’s shipping sector is monopolized. When we talk about African countries, harsh economic conditions have a strong impact on currency and economic situation in countries. If we add Covid-19 to this - then everything gets more difficult. If we talk about Kenya, the country which has experienced a lot of problems this topic is really important. The currency in the state is very weak and slowly the county’s shipping sector is monopolized. The country has a very strong connection with China. But there are some details. China may gain control over the assets of the Kenya Port Authority KPA, including the port of Mombasa if the Kenyan state railway corporation KRC does not fulfill its debt obligations to the Export-Import Bank of China SGR. According to dozens of financial companies, chief among them Axiory and its analytics experts, KPA's assets are at risk, as the administration has committed to loading China’s Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge (SGR) rail. China provided loans for the construction of SGR in the amount of about 500 billion Kenyan shillings (about five billion US dollars). The construction of the second phase of the SGR was officially completed in October 2016. Commercial freight operations began in early 2018. Losses of SGR for the first year of operation amounted to 10 billion shillings. Payments on loans should begin in the middle of next year after a five-year grace period. The port of Mombasa is the largest transport hub serving the foreign trade...

Tanzania is investing in ports expansion and construction to enhance regional trade, the country’s prime minister has said. Mr Kassim Majaliwa has said that the strategy being spearheaded by the government is to ensure that all ports in the country are in good shape to allow Tanzanians trade seamlessly with the rest of the world. He was speaking in public rallies at both Kabwe Ward in Nkasi District Rukwa Region, where he officially inaugurated the terminal at Lake Tanganyika as well as laying foundation stone at Kasanga Port in Kalambo District, Rukwa Region which is undergoing expansion at the cost of Tsh4.7 billion. “The projects, upon completion will open up this zone as an important economic gateway and boost trade between Tanzania and three neighbouring countries; Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Burundi,” said Mr Majaliwa. The Prime Minister said that the expansion of Kasanga Port was crucial because it will ease transportation of goods and people straight to DRC as opposed to the current situation, where they have to take longer routes, passing through other countries. “Upon completion, this project will help improve the per capita income of people in this area and the According to Daily News Tanzania is also planning to carry out major rehabilitation on the oldest ship on Lake Tanganyika, MV Liemba. The vessel had been plying on Lake Tanganyika for more than 100 years. On its part, Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has finished construction of Kabwe Port at the cost of Tsh7.49 billion, where big...

It took a traffic jam of a couple thousand trucks at the Malaba border between Kenya and Uganda to fully visualize both the health and trade issues at stake when borders operate at optimum. The COVID-19 crisis has revealed both hairline fractures along borders in East Africa and the potential to solve them through better regional coordination. The East African Community (EAC) to date has been a grand experiment in more than just free trade between Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. It also seeks to transform the region into a single market that allows free movement of goods, people, services, labour and capital, and create a single investment area. The coronavirus pandemic has curtailed this dream in the short-term but the experience has been a learning curve, and UNCTAD, TradeMark Africa (TMA) and other regional partners have used the moment to help the region’s national trade facilitation committees (NTFCs) improve their skills and work more effectively by offering them ground-breaking online training. “It’s a complicated situation due to the necessity of imposing health controls and measures to manage COVID-19 on one hand, while still ensuring trade flows, especially of essential goods, on the other,” said Shamika N. Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s director of technology and logistics. “The situation has been extremely challenging for everyone from policymakers to customs officials; truck drivers to traders,” she added. “Training is one of the solutions to this challenge.”   [caption id="attachment_54331" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Trade facilitation in East Africa is critical during COVID-19[/caption] Trade...

Rwanda is about to lose over 2500 containers of goods trapped at ports in Kenya and Tanzania because of failing to clear a list of accumulated bills and the deadline of 90 days ended on June 30, Taarifa reliably reports. It is not known what exactly is loaded in these containers, but contents are valued in millions of dollars. These containers have been languishing at the congested ports since December 2019 and their stay has since been prolonged by the #Covid-19 measures, while the bills accrued to million. The exact figure is yet to be established, according to parties involved. The only chance to save the containers from a regrettable public auction could be a conversation between the presidents. In a letter written by Stephen Ruzibiza, Chief Executive Officer of Private Sector Federation, Rwandan businesses have more than 37 containers at Mombasa port, while there are more than 2,000 containers currently at port Dar-es-Salaam. “Rwandan containers are facing demurrage costs, storage charges, warehouse rent and other penalties due to multitudes of adverse impacts of COVID-19,” Ruzibiza says in letters addressed to Tanzania and Kenya Ports. On June 22, Ruzibiza wrote a letter to the Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) requesting for a waiver of the charges and fines imposed on the containers due to the lockdown as a result of #COVID-19 pandemic. “We are humbled to request your institutions to give 100% waiver for customs warehouse rent, demurrage and port storage charges incurred as a result of #COVID-19 mitigation policies adopted by EAC member...

A historic deal to smash down tariff barriers within Africa is being braked by the coronavirus pandemic and a thicket of negotiating problems. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was formally launched just over a year ago in a blaze of optimism. The accord—styled as the biggest free-trade accord in the world in terms of population—gathers 54 out of 55 African countries, with Eritrea the only holdout. It aims to phase out all tariffs on commerce on the continent of 1.2 billion people, a goal that backers say could give trade a mega-jolt as only 15 percent of trade by African nations is with continental neighbours compared to 70 percent with Europe. It was supposed to take operational effect on Wednesday, July 1, but the timeline has slipped, under the complications caused by the Covid-19 outbreak but also the slow pace of negotiations themselves. "Everybody can see, objectively, nothing can be done on the 1st of July," AfCFTA's brand-new secretary general, Wamkele Mene of South Africa, told AFP. "Forty-two countries out of 55 in Africa are either in full or partial lockdown." A new date for January 2021 has been proposed by ambassadors at the Africa Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa. The recommendation has yet to be adopted by heads of state. Mene cautioned that the proposed date is itself subject to change. "It really all depends on the pandemic," he said. Mene, who was sworn in in March, himself works in Addis, as AfCTA's headquarters in Accra, Ghana,...

The Mombasa port has recorded increased cargo destined to Tanzania, South Sudan and the DRC Congo while Uganda’s consignments declined in the first four months of this year. This is according to latest Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) performance report of 2020. The introduction and gazettement of the Kenya-Tanzania link road through Voi-Taveta-Singida-Kobero has borne some fruits because Tanzania cargo increased by 40.7 percent. The link road and enhanced customs management systems at the Taveta one-stop border post (OSBP), which has reduced transport bottlenecks, appear to have attracted most of the northern Tanzania traders to use the Port of Mombasa. Mombasa port also surpassed its April target for cargo destined to South Sudan and DRC Congo by 35.8 percent and 20.8 percent respectively despite shipping industry grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic. Missing the target of cargo destined to Uganda by 1.9 percent has, however, contributed to the KPA slumping on its April target by 4.4 percent. The port management had projected to handle 11,815 metric tonnes of cargo for the first four months of 2020 but fell short of 498 metric tonnes, which was blamed on the disruption of supply chain due to Covid-19. According to the report, the port missed its local cargo throughput target where it anticipated to handle 7,723 metric tonnes but recorded 7,277 metric tonnes representing a decline of 6.1 percent occasioned by lockdown in China where most of the Kenyan cargo originates. During the period, the Port of Mombasa surpassed its transshipment target of 600 metric...

A report by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said despite steps taken to develop the country into a regional e-commerce hub, the digitalization of government services is advancing and the government is investing resources into enhancing the overall business environment. “Despite this, Tanzania has yet to adopt a stand-alone e-commerce policy or strategy and e-commerce is not mainstreamed into the national or sectoral trade development strategies. E-commerce development is not currently on the agenda of existing inter-ministerial or public-private dialogue platforms,” the Tanzania’s Rapid eTrade Readiness Assessment report said. The report further noted that with a large and growing population, a competitive mobile network operators (MNOs) market and increasing mobile service delivery, the trajectory of growth of mobile Internet users is positive. “Building the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), connected to the region’s main submarine cables, has resulted in lower mobile data prices for end-users. By the end of 2018, 3G and 4G networks covered around 61 per cent and 28 per cent of Tanzania’s population, respectively. This remains considerably lower than the 2G coverage of around 90 per cent,” the report noted. The UNCTAD report stated that although mobile data prices are reasonably low, they remain unaffordable for segments of the population that mostly reside in rural areas which has resulted in a large gap in Internet use between urban and rural areas. “Also, fewer women than men access and use the Internet. Given that most Tanzanians access the Internet through their mobile phones, the low Internet...

Efforts to speed up cargo movement in the region received a major boost Tuesday after the European Union signed a deal with the Trademark East Africa (TMA) to fund safe clearance at the ports and border points. Under the Sh602 million (€5 million) emergency trade programme, mobile testing labs will be provided at Mombasa port and key border crossings, including Busia and Malaba. The programme to be rolled out under public-private partnership will also provide personal protective equipment to port and border point workers to cushion them from Covid-19 spreading at these trade hubs. “This (fund) grant is very important and will complement the government’s efforts that ultimately cushion not only large enterprises but especially also the MSME who rely greatly on the flow of supply chains as most cannot maintain large inventories,” said Trade Secretary Betty Maina. The funds from the European Union will fund the Kenyan component of the programme, making the bloc the largest donor to the programme. “I am, therefore, happy to support this Safe Trade Emergency Facility in Kenya not only as a donor but also by drawing on the EU’s knowledge and experience. This action will support Kenya as the gateway to the EAC by making certain that all supply chains stay open,” said EU Ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue. Source: Business Daily

From the safety of my lockdown office at home in Johannesburg, I’ve just “returned” from the first ever UK virtual visit to Kenya. Thanks to telecoms companies such as the UK’s Vodafone, which have enhanced capacity and networks in Kenya and across Africa since the start of lockdown, I was able to meet virtually with business, government entirely using digital platforms. My visit came at a catalytic time for Kenya. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the global economy. While we are still working together to respond to this, we must also turn our attention to how we recover, rebuilding better. We have a clear moment now to choose a greener, more inclusive and sustainable future. Technology isn’t just enabling us to recreate how we used to work, or what we used to work on. During my visit, I spoke to a number of female entrepreneurs, who are working with the UK-Kenya Tech Hub and are adapting to the extraordinary challenges the pandemic has created, all the time with unremitting trademark resilience and energy. It was also encouraging to hear that, even in these difficult times, innovation remains strong, as does the breadth and depth of the UK-Kenya relationship. This is framed by the Strategic Partnership that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Uhuru Kenyatta signed in London at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in January, where we also announced Sh170 billion of new UK investments in Kenya. Heartening too was learning about how larger companies—including Kenya’s...

The pilot phase of a regional Covid-19 surveillance system for trucks and their crew starts today, Monday, June 15, before its full implementation next week, an official has told The New Times. Towards the end of last month, East African Community partner states adopted the Regional Electronic Cargo and Drivers Tracking System that will be hosted at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. This came after a consultative meeting chaired by President Paul Kagame on May 12 this year, brought together four East African Community (EAC) leaders and discussed regional efforts to tackle the COVID-19 that has ravaged the world. At the time, the leaders directed concerned regional ministers to "finalise and adopt an EAC digital surveillance and tracking system for drivers and crew on COVID-19 for immediate use by partner states." "Today (Monday) we are doing piloting and next week all goes live," Eng. Daniel Murenzi, the Principal Information Technology Officer at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, said. "The system delayed to be implemented immediately after the Ministers had approved the system to be used; this was because we had to first do direct integration to the national laboratories." According to Murenzi, last week, a technical test was "done successfully." "And now we are starting piloting this week since we have agreed with transporters. Also, we have finished purchasing equipment through support of Trademark EastAfrica that will be used for screening: these are tablets that will be having an application on." Murenzi noted that each country has assigned a national focal person...