Now that the laws allowing for the use of drones for commercial purposes, it is only a matter of time before we see the unmanned aerial vehicles dotting skylines as they deliver goods, unshackled from our snaking traffic. This is the future of logistics, transportation that is driven by technology and with minimal human assistance. What will this will mean for Kenya’s logistics industry? First, it is worthy to note that Kenya is not the pioneer on the use of drones in the region. The crown goes to Rwanda which is already using the aerial vehicles to deliver blood, medical supplies and other life critical inputs. In Kenya, a good example is in the delivery of national examination papers. The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) failed to take off on time in parts of Narok County as rains made road transportation unusable. Expanding our imagination even further, would drones have been used to deliver election materials for the General Elections? Going back to costs, would drones deliver these goods in a timely and more cost effective manner? These are some situations where the government ought to seek the services of technology-driven logistic companies. The private sector can also use this technology for parcel delivery, especially at a time when more Kenyans are embracing online shopping. Again, one area that needs to rapidly adopt technologically-driven logistics is the booming retail sector. Retailers often cite that one of the biggest costs they incur is shrinkage or losses that are the result...

The dream of achieving low airfare in Africa may soon be realised should the African Union’s plans run full course. The bloc expects to launch its Single African Air Transport Market at the end of this month in Ethiopia. According to the AU, 23 regional countries have committed to the cause that whose full implementation will see, among other benefits, the cost of air travel drop by more than 25 per cent. AU chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat in his New Year message said SAATM will be launched on the margins of the African Union Summit to be held between January 22-29 this year. “Twenty-three member States have pledged their solemn commitment to the Single Air Market, the implementation of which will increase the number of routes, reduce the cost of air travel and contribute to the expansion of intra-African trade and tourism,” said Mr Mahamat in the statement. Efforts to have African countries open up a common airspace has been frustrated by States that want to protect their weak airlines from competition, raising debate on whether this will be achieved. Ministers of Infrastructure from Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) in a report last year October said some countries have been reluctant to embrace full implementation of a seamless airspace as it will expose their airlines to stiff competition. “Implementation has been hampered by reluctance by States that claim to have weak airlines to embrace full implementation as their airlines cannot compete,” said the report in part. The...

A year after it became compulsory for importers to have local marine cargo insurance (MCI), underwriters are worried that there is something wrong with the implementation of the directive. While they cannot put a finger on the possible rotten apple, the industry is suspecting porousness in three areas that they are now investigating to interpret the poor performance of 2017. It’s the abnormal low premium income that has thrown the industry into a spin with official data showing they may have only achieved 20 per cent of their 2017 annual premiums target. The three suspect leads are whether some importers are ignoring the directive on MCI. They are also investigating claims of price undercutting among service providers and the effect of electoral politics on import volumes. “We have to know what’s happening exactly. We want to ensure there is no cheating so that MCI directive can work for all stakeholders in 2018,” said Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) chief executive Tom Gichuhi. “But generally, we are encouraged by month on month improvement which climaxed in October when official figures indicated the local industry had collected monthly premium of Sh1.8 billion, which is 70 per cent of the target,” he said. The insurers initially set an ambitious annual target of raising annual premiums of between Sh20 billion and Sh22 billion once the State locked out foreign underwriters. However, the regulator is assuring the insurers that nothing has been lost. The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) says the MCI is one of the...

Sugar imports grew threefold in 11 months to November 2017 compared with the previous year following the scrapping of duty on the commodity to bridge the local deficit. A market report from the Sugar Directorate indicates the volumes shipped into the country tripled to 971,212 in the period under review from 290,256 in corresponding period the previous year. The bulk of the sugar imports was of brown/mill white type (table sugar 829,111 tonnes), representing 85 per cent of the total consignment, while the balance was industrial sugar, which is used for manufacturing. “The significant increase in table sugar imports is ascribed to huge importation of duty free sugar between May and August 2017 to mitigate shortage in the country,” says the report. Large imports were registered from non-Comesa countries during the period as more than three quarter of the consignment was brught in from Brazil. About 250,259 tonnes of the commodity were imported from Comesa Free Trade Area while 622,646 tonnes was shipped in from non-Comesa region. There were zero imports from East African countries as the region, just like Kenya, grappled with a shortage of the commodity and retained local production for their domestic use. Sugar production in the country dropped 45 per during the same period as factories grappled with the shortage of raw material to mill, affecting the sales, which also fall by almost similar margin. The quantities produced dropped to 327,886 in the first 11 months of 2017 from 593,666 tonnes in corresponding period in 2016....

Kenya Airways  is set to commence daily flights between Nairobi and New York in October, marking a milestone for the national carrier that will cut the flight time between the two cities by more than seven hours. Travellers will from tomorrow begin booking advance tickets for the airline’s maiden flight to the John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Kenya Airways has already secured a landing slot at JFK. The trans-Atlantic flights, scheduled to depart Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 10:30pm every day, will last 15 hours. This is a reduction from the current flight time of over 22 hours, including lengthy layovers. “We are currently loading the flights onto our system. We shall go live and ready for bookings on Thursday,” said Kenya Airways chairman Michael Joseph in a telephone interview. “The launch of direct flights between Kenya and the United States will mark a significant milestone for the business and for the country.” Passengers travelling to JFK will arrive at 6.30 a.m., in time for morning meetings, while the return flight from JKF will depart at 1.30 p.m. and arrive in Nairobi at 10.30 a.m. the next day. Each trip will have a maximum of 234 passengers — 204 in Economy and the rest in Business Class of the national carrier’s Dreamliner aircraft. Delta partnership Kenya Airways, known in short as KQ, had announced its preference to operate the flights through a code-share partnership with US carrier Delta Airlines, its SkyTeam partner. Delta, Virgin Atlantic and KLM Air France...

Last month, from December 8-14, 2017, Rwanda celebrated its annual Green Growth Week. The week is part of the country’s efforts geared at achieving economic growth through sustainable resources utilisation as well as safeguarding the environment. Rwanda is one of countries, making consistent efforts in achieving green and sustainable economic growth. Green growth aims at fostering economic growth and development by ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which economies well-being relies. Green economic growth is part of the country’s developmental policies and some of endeavours include ban on use of plastic bags, maintaining minimum forest cover of 30 per cent, green funds and green projects, and enacting of the green development policies, among others. Again, Rwanda is committed to green economic Transformation. Rwanda’s green growth and climate resilience strategy was launched in 2011 as one of steps towards sustainable economic growth and to address challenge of climatic change. Important components of this strategy are green fund and green projects financed by green fund. The country has established a national environment and climate fund for financing green projects. It has thus developed a well-designed pathway for achieving green growth through various policies. Globally all countries are required to adopt green economic growth strategy as a part of sustainable economic development and meet challenges of climatic change. Recently, the World Bank asserted on making green growth inclusive through three pronged pathway. Prong one relies on inclusive green growth strategies to maximise local benefits. The second...

Infrastructure is crucial to Africa’s growth prospects. But it’s also hard to get right. Until now, policy-makers have focused on improving access to finance. But a consensus is developing globally that a major factor hindering infrastructure implementation is a lack of good governance and well-planned projects. This makes it crucial for African countries should plan for infrastructure and develop governance frameworks that facilitate inclusive and sustainable investment decisions. There’s certainly no denying the need for infrastructure development on the continent, as has been emphasised during the course of Germany’s G20 Compact with Africa initiative. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 35 per cent of the population has access to electricity. Access to modern transport has declined in the region over the past 20 years, and 23 per cent of the population still lacks access to safe water. Against this background, it’s understandable that the investment focus over the past 10 years has been on utilities and trying to improve access to electricity and water. For some countries this is a significant challenge. Ethiopia, for example, needs to spend 20 per cent of its GDP to meet its electricity Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and another nearly seven per cent to meet its water SDGs. That’s a major chunk of its GDP, particularly when you compare that the average investment in all infrastructure in Latin America stands at about 5.5 per cent. Ethiopia is not unique and such cases point to a significant underinvestment in economic infrastructure such as ports, airports and roads across...

MOMBASA Kenya’s tourism marketers on Thursday welcomed 576 tourists who have arrived at the Port of Mombasa aboard cruise ship, MS Nautica, marking the first cruise ship arrival to the country this year. Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) CEO Betty Radier said in a statement that the cruise ship arrived in the tourism resort city from Zanzibar and is scheduled to make a one-day stop before it sails onward to Mahe Island in the Seychelles. “The arrival of MS Nautica portrays the uniqueness of Mombasa as a port of call, especially considering that Mombasa is the only port in the region where disembarking passengers can get to go on safari within the short duration of their stop,” Radier said. She added that this was yet another major boost to the coastal region’s tourism sector. Kenyan authorities have vowed to develop and promote cruise tourism instead of relying solely on beach and safari for marketing. Kenya is a destination with diverse and rich tourism attractions and is today a renowned tourist brand in the world market. During their one day stop, the tourists were expected to visit Amboseli National Park and also tour various parts of Mombasa, including the iconic Fort Jesus, a historical site in Mombasa. The arrival of the cruise ship comes barely a fortnight after MS Silver Spirit, a luxury cruise ship with 472 passengers on board, made its maiden stop in Mombasa. Shimba Hills National Park, Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary, Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Park as well...

Kampala. The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved the Bank’s 2018 borrowing programme for $8 billion (Shs28.6 trillion) to be raised from capital markets. Uganda is one of the countries that benefit from AfDB’s funds. AfDB has also shown a strong commitment to socially responsible investment programmes. The AfDB Green Bond programme facilitates the achievement of the bank’s corporate priority of green growth through the financing of eligible climate change projects. “We have stepped up our profile in the international capital markets and will continue to raise funds across the globe to provide cost effective resources to our clients” said Ms Hassatou N’Sele, the acting vice president finance of the AfDB Group. The AfDB high 5 operational priorities are: Universal access to electricity, agricultural transformation, economic diversification, regional market and access to social and economic opportunities. AfDB president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, says these focus areas are essential in transforming lives. Source: The Monitor

Uganda plans to refocus its efforts on revamping its metre gauge railway in the medium term as Kenya’s delay in raising financing for the Kisumu-Malaba leg of its standard gauge railway will cause Uganda to defer its plans for at least three years. The EastAfrican has learnt that although the two countries have already agreed to synchronise their projects, the process is still riddled with challenges that will hold back building the $2.3 billion standard gauge railway from Malaba to Kampala. “We still have issues to sort out during 2018. I cannot answer when we will get financial closure for Malaba-Kampala. We need to first agree with Kenya on how quickly they can get financial closure for Kisumu-Malaba,” said Keith Muhakanizi, the Secretary to the Treasury and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. Mr Muhakanizi could not give details of how much money government intends to use to revamp the existing railway, currently operating by Rift Valley Railways, but he insisted that the 2018/19 budget will provide funds for this purpose. “We are putting money in the budget for this. We have to do something about railways,” he added. Experts told The EastAfrican that even if finances for the Kisumu-Malaba and Malaba-Kampala are availed immediately, it would take another three years to get the project over the line from commencement of construction. No feasibility studies It is understood that a meeting that was to be held in Beijing in October to discuss the final funding proposal failed to materialise. “The ministers for...