There is life after the launch of the standard gauge railway, Container Freight Station (CFS) operators have been told. At least not for now. With freight trains hauling 216 containers or 4,000 tonnes daily from Mombasa port, there have been fears that little cargo would be available for CFSs. According to Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina, the railway will be extended to cover all the container berths at the port, meaning that cargo will be offloaded from the ship onto the wagons and delivered to the expanded Nairobi Inland Container Depot within eight hours. Freight trains started ferrying cargo on January 1 when a full load of 216 containers were transported to Nairobi. Two days later, there was a cargo deficit, forcing KR to delay haulage until the right volumes are achieved. KR started by charging Sh50,000 per twenty foot container with importers having to incur an extra Sh15,000 to shift their goods to the door-step in the last mile transport. Truckers charge between Sh65,000 and Sh80,000 for the same load. But two weeks ago, Mr Maina announced reduction of the rates from Sh50,000 for the twenty foot container to Sh35,000, sending the CFS owners into panic. “This now is crazy and we will have to go back to the drawing board because importers are excited by these rates,” said one operator requesting to remain anonymous. CFS Association of Kenya chief executive officer Daniel Nzeki said they were still taking stock of the effects of the new rates and...

Former Meru Governor Peter Munya has been handed the task of promoting regional integration, just over a year after he was accused of wrecking it. Mr Munya, who made political U-turns during the electioneering season last year, ditching Jubilee for two days to Nasa before returning to the fold, will now be in charge of East African Community, and the Northern Corridor Development, if the National Assembly endorses him. He was quick to accept the nomination: AGENDA AND VISION “I take this opportunity to thank His Excellency the President for the honour and privilege he has accorded me and the people of Meru by nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as CS in charge of East African Community and Northern Corridor Development. “I promise to serve with dedication to help the president achieve his agenda and vision of widening and deepening regional integration,” he added. But for him as the CS for EAC and Northern Corridor Development, perhaps the shoe will be in the other foot. In July 2016, Mr Munya caused controversy in Somalia when he visited Somaliland, a breakaway region yet to be recognised internationally, ostensibly to promote easier regulations on miraa from his county. While in Somalia, the then Meru governor met with Somaliland Deputy President Abdurrahman Ishmael, the Foreign Affairs minister and his Finance counterpart, where he reportedly offered to lobby for the region’s international recognition in exchange for freer Miraa deals. The proposal irked Mogadishu, who returned the favour by temporarily banning Miraa exports...

Arusha — ANOTHER submarine telecommunications system is set to link the East African region with South Africa, Asia and Europe. A statement from China's Huawei Marine, now made available here, reveals that HM was completing a 'desktop study' for a new subsea cable system, dubbed the 'Peace Subsea Cable' whose first phase is meant to connect South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia and Pakistan (Gwadar and Karachi). Peace is short for 'Pakistan East Africa Cable Express' and the system has been designed by Chinese firm, Tropic Science, to provide a new information expressway for interconnection among Asia, Africa and Europe - through existing land and subsea cables The report further explains that Huawei Marine would begin a marine survey on January 15, with the Peace system expected to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2019. The first phase will span some 6,200km and would link Pakistan (Gwadar and Karachi), Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya. The second phase would provide an "extended option" to South Africa and Europe with a total length of about 13,000km, all based on 200G dense wave-division multiplexing technology on a design capacity of 60Tbit/s. "The Peace system will provide a new information expressway for interconnection among Asia, Africa and Europe by connecting with existing land and subsea cables," Huawei Marine and Tropic Science said in a joint statement. Tropic Science chairman He Liehui said the system will become "an important infrastructure for Asian, African and European intercontinental communications and promote economic development of the regions"....

Users of cargo facilities at the Moi international airport in Mombasa are pushing for establishment of cold storage at the airport to facilitate exports. Mohamed Abdulahi, a director at the Mombasa Slaughter House said they have secured contracts to supply beef to Middle East but are constrained when it comes to storage at the airport ahead of shipment. “We are expanding with a plan to invest more than Sh100 million to buy processing equipment so that we meet a demand of up to 10 tonnes per month but the problem is that at the airport there is limited space for storage,” he said Wednesday. He said when flights are delayed they are forced to find alternative storage, which is expensive, making them uncompetitive in the target markets. Other exporters who need cold storage facilities at the airport include Kenya Meat Commission and horticultural producers. Their push comes at a time construction work for a new cargo handling container freight station (CFS) at the airport is nearly complete. The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) awarded the contract to GN Cargo Kenya Limited. According to Guled Aden, a director at GN Cargo, there are a few regulatory procedures remaining before they roll out the service. “We will also have cold storage facilities and we expect to launch it in March after we obtain all the necessary approvals,” he said. Establishment of the centre is expected to raise export volumes channelled through the airport with the CFS targeting raising fish and meat exports to...

Production of railway parts like T-beams and sleepers for the standard gauge railway between Nairobi and Naivasha has started. The China Communication Constriction Company (CCCC) says for the last one month, it has prefabricated 32,928 rail sleepers and 126 T-beams at the Emali construction site. Sleepers hold the rails upright and keep them spaced to the correct gauge while the beams are load bearing structures reinforced with concrete, wood or metal, with a T-shape cross section. The rail sleepers and T-beams will be used to construct a 39-kilometre stretch starting at the Nairobi terminus to the Ngong Hill section. “To cover the 39km, the section office will pre-fabricate 389 spans of T-beams, with each span made of two symmetrical sections and 80,000 rail sleepers,” the company said. They are pre-fabricating three spans of T-beam and 784 rail sleepers daily, according to the CCCC spokesperson Steve Zhao. The 120km Nairobi-Naivasha line is funded by Exim-Bank of China at a cost Sh150 billion. Mr Zhao who was speaking during a media familiarisation tour. Phase 2B of the project from Naivasha to Kisumu will cost Sh350 billion, the bulk of which is expected to be financed through loans from Exim Bank of China. Source: Business Daily

Three decades after the plan for open skies in Africa was mooted, 23 countries on the continent this week launched the Single African Air Transport Market in Ethiopia. Driving the single air market is the dream that Africans will be able to fly across the continent seamlessly and cheaper than the prices that the current protective markets will allow. Despite the celebratory mood, however, the launch of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) does not mean travellers will automatically crisscross the continent. On the runway to take-off are a number of significant steps that signatories have to take in realising this dream. “We are not ready to start today. It will take a bit more time to achieve the vision,” said the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) director-general Gilbert Kibe. Mr Kibe said that it would be at least a decade before the full dream of the single market was realised. Under the umbrella of the Single Market, cross-border flights will be treated as domestic flights for taxation and regulatory purposes. Airlines will also be granted fifth freedom rights, meaning a flight from Johannesburg can stop by Nairobi and pick up passengers on its way to Cairo. This will all serve to drive ticket prices down and increase connectivity on the continent. While the African Union aims to erase the tedious bilateral service agreements in favour of a multilateral protocol to govern SAATM, Mr Kibe says that countries in the region are still far from it. Initially, countries will...

More than 10,000 small-scale women traders engaged in cross-border business in the East African Community have been trained on laws governing trade among the member countries. The women drawn from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda Ethiopia and Eritrea have been trained on various areas including taxation laws and common market protocol. Speaking at Green Park Hotel in Taveta, Taita Taveta County on Monday, Eastern African Sub Regional Support Initiative For Advancement of Women (EASSI) project coordinator Ms Ruth Warutere said the women were also being sensitised on using official border posts while crossing the border. “Some of them were using illegal routes to escape custom charges. They did not know that it is cheaper than using these escape routes,” Ms Warutere said. Goods stolen She said some businesswomen at the border had complained that their goods were being stolen by rogue bodaboda operators and thieves along the border. “Some women did not know that it would be more expensive to use these routes because they pay more transport charges that when they use the border points,” she said. She said the organisation also helps the women traders get a certificate of origin, which exempts them from paying taxes of goods worth 2000 dollars. “Some traders don’t know about this and other opportunities. We normally train them on such opportunities and laws governing each trade,” she said. On the other hand, the organisation’s project officer, Manisurah Aheebwa, urged the East African member states to harmonise laws which don’t favour women in...

Botswana on Tuesday signed a tripartite free trade area agreement which marked a milestone in the trade agenda of the African Union. The document was known as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Free Trade Area (FTA) Agreement. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Botswana's minister for Investment, Trade and Industry Vincent Seretse said the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) will boost intra-African trade as a result of elimination and reduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers as well as market expansion. Seretse said the TFTA is also expected to serve as one of the building blocks of an African Economic Community, thus facilitating deeper regional and continental integration in Africa. According to SADC Deputy Executive Secretary Thembinkosi Mhlongo, the tripartite agreement has the potential to boost trade in Africa and accelerate development by creating a huge single market of about 700 million people with an estimated gross domestic product of well over 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars. Source: Xinhua Net

On his second day in office as the new African Union Chairperson, President Paul Kagame, alongside his Togolese counterpart Faure Gnassingbé and AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki, launched the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) initiative during the last day of the 30th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday. The effort seeks to connect African countries and streamline transportation and trade on the continent. President Gnassingbé was appointed to champion the initiative. Monday’s launch follows about three years of efforts following its adoption at a previous AU summit. With 23 member states at the moment, the initiative is likely to have more countries come on board in the coming days. The initiative is aimed at creating a single unified air transport market in Africa and the liberalisation of civil aviation in Africa. This could reduce scenarios where travelers have often been forced to spend long hours or days in transit due to infrequent commercial flights between African countries. It’s common to come across cases where African travelers from East Africa had to travel to connect to West Africa through Europe and Asia due to lack of interregional connecting flights. The model is similar to that of developed markets such as Europe, where airlines from participating countries can fly to airports of fellow member states. Rwanda is part of the Ministerial Working Bureau as the Rapporteur. The government is upbeat about the development as it is likely to see RwandAir access more countries and markets across the continent. State minister...

President Paul Kagame has called for increased private sector collaboration in African Union’s key initiatives. Kagame was speaking at the closure of the 30th African Union summit yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Kagame, who on Sunday began his term as the AU Chairperson, told his counterparts that the private sector was eager to get involved as critical partners in creating opportunities and building prosperity. “As we go forward, I would encourage closer collaboration with Africa’s private sector on the Union’s key initiatives. The business community is always eager to get involved, and more importantly, they are critical partners in creating opportunities and building the prosperity our continent needs,” Kagame said. He also called on African countries to pay more attention to conservation, saying it would enable the continent to make the most of its assets and better management of sectors such as agriculture and tourism. “Africans need to take the lead, in partnership with like-minded global organisations, in conservation because it affects us directly. Driving conservation will allow us get the most out of our continent’s assets, contribute to better management of our agriculture and tourism sectors, and support efforts to mitigate climate change,” he said. Addressing questions by members of the press, the President said that the African Union reforms were picking up the pace as countries and their respective leaders were in support of the process. “Reforms need a lot of mindset change, change doesn’t come easy, it requires hard work and sometimes taking risks but the most...