Activities at Mombasa port remained paralysed yesterday due to alleged massive system failure. However, some sources have said operational inefficiencies, high level corruption and cargo losses at the port and at the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Embakasi, Nairobi, have been engineered to undermine the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) freight services. More Cabinet secretaries yesterday arrived at the port to try to unlock the congestion that has hit the facility for a week. East African Community Affairs and Northern Corridor Development CS Peter Munya arrived at the port together with Transport Principal Secretary Paul Maringa and were in a meeting with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials for hours. “CS Peter Munya arrived this morning and is holding meetings with stakeholders,” said Hajji Masemo, a KPA public relations officer. Mr Masemo said KPA would issue a comprehensive statement today detailing the measures adopted to decongest the port of Mombasa and the ICD in Embakasi. There were reports that the congestion had affected transit trade between Kenya and its neighbours. Supervise clearance Mr Munya was joined by his Industrialisation counterpart, Adan Mohamed, who has been at the port since Friday to supervise the clearance of 11,000 containers to private freight stations. On Friday and Saturday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i, KRA boss John Njiraini, Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina and representatives of Kenya's neighbours visited the port to assess the logistical chaos. The Standard has established that 32,000 import and export containers have been lying at...

The Government of Korea and the African Development Bank have issued a Joint Declaration following the conclusion of the Ministerial Roundtable of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Conference taking place during the African Development Bank’s 53rd Annual Meetings in which Korea announced a $5-billion bilateral financial assistance package for Africa. The Ministerial Roundtable is the signature event of the biennial KOAFEC Conference, gathering a peer group of African Ministers of Finance who also serve as the African Development Bank Board of Governors to discuss topical issues and a pan-African approach to engagement with Korea. Taking place under the theme “Africa and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Opportunities for leapfrogging?”, the Ministerial Conference highlighted the need for long-term planning for industrial development and execution of projects, as well as a focus on value addition in sectors where Africa has comparative advantage for example in agriculture and natural resources. There was also a need to further leverage technology such as the mobile phone for more inclusive growth, in favour of the youth. The $5-billion financial assistance package will be delivered over two years through partnerships with various development agencies, including but not limited to the African Development Bank Group. The package leverages resources from various Korean bilateral agencies and platforms, including the Knowledge Sharing Program, the Economic Development Cooperation Fund, Korea Import-Export Bank, among others. Specifically, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina and the Deputy Prime Minister of Korea, Dong Yeon Kim, signed three cooperation agreements for the implementation of certain components of...

The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) seeks to integrate African economies and pull together a market with a consumer spending power of $1.4 trillion by 2020, and increase intra-African trade by $35 billion by 2022. While some countries may have issues with the AfCTA, most governments are behind it and momentum will continue to build to make it a reality. AfCTA is viewed as a game- changer that will allow the free movement of goods and services across the continent, allowing African businesses to tap deeper into the sizeable and growing markets. However, there are a few risks that ought to be managed going forward. The first has to do with the financing of infrastructure that will interconnect the continent. Africa has an annual infrastructure financing deficit of about $93 billion. An obvious next step will be the business of raising funds to build the infrastructure Africa needs because without it, AfCTA will remain a good idea with no lived benefits on the ground. Given concerns with rising debt levels of African countries, coupled with queries on the management of public funds, there is a risk that AfCTA can facilitate a debt binge to finance infrastructure in a context of poor institutional controls and capacity to ensure projects are efficiently financed and developed. African governments have to manage this by ensuring infrastructure plans are financed responsibly, that money reaches the projects and that they are completed in a timely manner. Without these controls, the sheer scale of financing that...

As East Africa’s oil producers race to meet their production targets, funding and infrastructural development hurdles threaten to delay the projects. Uganda, for instance, has been forced to rethink its early oil production date of 2020, after it became evident that the refinery at Hoima, which is expected to serve the domestic and neighbouring markets, will delay even further, because regional countries are yet to commit to the joint project whose final investment decision is expected within two years. The project operators now target 2023 to start producing petroleum products, including jet fuel, petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas. According to 2017 figures, by refining oil locally, Uganda will save $1.7 billion annually. In Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta is gearing up to roll out the Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS), which will involve trucking the oil to Mombasa, on June 3. This programme has been marred by logistical and legal hurdles in the past year, leading to delays. Impassable roads Even as officials insisted that the scheme was set for launch, there were doubts that it would immediately succeed, as Turkana County, where the South Lokichar oil basin is situated, has experienced massive flooding that has left its roads impassable and the vital Kainuk bridge further dilapidated. Related Content Uganda signs $4bn refinery plant deal 70,000 barrels of oil ready for Kenya's pilot export Collapse of bridge delays oil transport to Mombasa It remains to be seen if the two companies contracted by Tullow Oil Plc will start moving the...

Kenya Railways will dedicate two trains daily to ferry empty containers from its Nairobi Inland Container Depot to the port of Mombasa to reduce the backlog. Responding to complaints over delays to return the containers, the Kenya Ports Authority said KR has scheduled one out of the five daily trains to ferry empty containers. “The Authority will be holding weekly consultative sessions with its customers to track the efficiencies of the new measures,” said head of corporate affairs Bernard Osero. An average of 540 containers of cargo are ferried to Nairobi ICD from Mombasa through the SGR following an increase of freight trains from one to five daily. In a statement, KPA also outlined eight key measures put in place to improve operational efficiency. The handling charges for both local and transit cargo have been reviewed from $103 to $80 per 20ft unit, and from $157 to $120 for 40ft. For Transit cargo, it was reduced from $85 to $60 for 20ft unit and $125 down to $90 per 40ft. The free storage period for import containers in Nairobi has been reduced from 11 days to four days to encourage importers to hasten collection of their cargo. KPA has also introduced a 24-hour work schedule including Sundays as well as opening a one-stop centre and returned containers that were erroneously sent to Nairobi. It is using Hand Held Terminals (HHT) to update slots in the yard and trace containers to enhance human resources capacity and equipment. “We wish to assure all our...

The East African Community is pushing for an amendment to the Customs Management Act to allow Customs officials to get advance information regarding goods being moved across national borders ahead of their arrival on carrier vessel. This would enable Customs officials to detect high-risk consignments and take appropriate action, and expedite clearance of legitimate cargo. Section 24(1)(a) of the East African Community Customs Management Act requires shipping lines to submit their vessel manifest at least 24 hours before their arrival at a port. Approval The Council of Ministers has approved the amendment for submission to the East African Legislative Assembly. It will then be forwarded to heads of state for approval and enforced by the Customs Directorate. It is expected that the law will curtail trade in illegal goods across partner states as authorities will have to co-operate and share information on money laundering, drug, arms and human trafficking, dealings in counterfeits and infringement of intellectual property rights. This will be the third time the Act is being amended since 2004, when East African Community Customs Management came into force. Source: The East African

In 2017, 37 per cent of Kenya’s exports went to an African country, down from  40 per cent the previous year. This caused a near flat growth in export earnings, particularly from East Africa which accounts for more than half of Africa’s total trade with Kenya. These declining trade levels have spurred interest in the establishment of policies and structures that can boost intra-Africa trade. Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) has been working with East African Community member states on trade facilitation, with the goal of establishing borderless commerce. Business Daily’s Laban Cliff Onserio talked to TMA’s chief executive, Frank Matsaert, on the future of regional trade and what can be done to expand it. Your organisation has been supporting trade and investment in East Africa for more than 10 years and is about to go into Strategy II. What do you have to show for your efforts in phase 1 and what should we expect from this latest initiative?  Our big aim is to encourage job creation through increased trade. I would like to go for a target of about one million jobs. We want to increase trade in the region by reducing the cost of trade. What is different about this latest phase is that we are going to do some pilots to bring in anchor investment aimed at diversifying exports. The potential for Kenya to attract investment in labour-intensive manufacturing is strong so we want to help that process as part of the President’s Big Four Agenda initiatives....

The four RTGs are part of the 12 RTGs that the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) ordered from Toyota Tshusho of Japan. Efficiency and productivity at the Port of Mombasa is expected to improve following the acquisition of four new Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) cranes and two Rail Mounted Gantry (RMG) cranes. The four RTGs are part of the 12 RTGs that the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) ordered from Toyota Tshusho of Japan. The first consignment (8 RTGs) was received on April 21, 2018. The two RMGs are part of the six that the Authority ordered from ZPMC of China. KPA said the remaining four RMGs are expected towards the end of June 2018. "One RTG costs Kshs 185 Million while each RMG is Kshs 355 Million," KPA said in a statement, on Wednesday. The main features of the RTGs are; hybrid power system- resulting into improved fuel efficiency of up to 50% and reduced carbon emissions; advanced crane monitoring system; installed accurate container load weighing system; safe working load of 45 tons; stacking height of five plus one high; width of 6 plus one truck lane and automatic steering. On the other hand the RMGs main features include; safe working load of 65 tons; two twenty foot containers (twin lift) capability; span of 40 meters and outreach of six meters (this shall enable the cranes serve 3 SGR and 3 MGR railway lines); stacking height is 5 plus one container; 180O trolley rotation mechanism to enable turning of containers; advanced...

Speaking during the launch of the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative workshop, East African Community and Northern Corridor Development Cabinet Minister Peter Munya notes that African states are underutilizing the vast resources in the continent. “The level of cross-border infrastructure especially the modes of transport is a challenge. We also have technological challenges that lead to most of the African projects being outsourced from other continents. There is also uncertainty in the political climate that affects long-term investments in the continent.” “These challenges affect the tapping of resources in Africa especially in reference to the population of 1.2 billion people that offer a very compact market for most of the goods and services being produced,” the CS said. Munya, however, said with the political goodwill shown by African Presidents with the agreement of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 44 African countries in March this year, there was hope in the realization of continental development. The CS also expressed confidence in East Africa regional development and referred to the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport program (LAPSSET) which he said is 48 per cent complete, as an example of regional growth. Munya further said the pipeline connecting Kenya and Uganda was set to be discussed during the Northern Corridor Summit later this month, with plans of re-launching the project being on course. “I can assure that the LAPSSET program is on course and major milestones have been achieved by the three countries.” “The issue on the pipeline with Uganda is almost...

Arusha — The East African Community (EAC) aviation body has been voted the second best in the world in spearheading safety and security enforcements. The Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (Cassoa) earned the slot after being voted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao). The Entebbe-based institution of the EAC emerged second in the votes on performance involving 17 other similar aviation oversight bodies across the world. "Cassoa was voted as the second best safety and security aviation agency in the world", affirmed the organization's acting executive director Emile Ngunza Arao over the weekend. He told the EAC secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko who visited the headquarters of the facility that the organization was doing well in discharging its duties despite a host of challenges. Cassoa was established in 2007 as one of the institutions of the Community and mandated to make air transportation in the region safe, efficient and profitable. It was also tasked to adopt common policies for the development of civil air transport in the region comprising of six partner states. Additionally, it was mandated to harmonise civil aviation rules and regulations and coordinate maintenance of high security. The safety and security oversight obligations and responsibilities fall under the EAC Treaty and the Chicago Convention which established Icao, a specialized agency of the UN. The Convention established rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety and details the rights of the signatories in relation to air travel. As of November last year, the Convention, revised eight times...