TRANSHIPMENT CARGO "TEMPORARILY" SUSPENDED AT MSA

Kenya Ports Authority has suspended landing of transshipment cargo in Mombasa port from next Monday due to over congestion.

This will allow the port to clear a backlog of 2,741 Twenty Foot Equivalents Units as at Wednesday, destined for Dar es Salaam and other Indian Ocean ports. Normally, the port handles about 2,000 units for transshipment.

The port of Dar es Salaam, which regularly faces similar problems of congestion, significantly relies on Mombasa as one measure of controlling the problem.

Mr Harry Abok, the port’s corporate communication officer, said the suspension was only temporary. “We shall resume transshipment business as soon as we clear the backlog,” the officer said.

Mr Abok said that the port of Mombasa is not bound to take any transshipment cargo and only engages in the business when it is convenient.

Unlike the inland cargo, the transshipment cargo is kept near the berth for convenience and is supposed to stay at the port for only 32 days. “But this does not normally happen and sometimes it takes longer than the stipulated period...

“And since the containers cannot be taken to container freight stations, there is always the problem of availability of space whenever there is a slight congestion at the port,” Mr Abok added.

Once the transshipment cargo has been offloaded from the ships, it is taken to the port of destination using small ships, Mr Abok said.

He said the suspension was not unusual and the port had done it in the past. “During the post-election period, for instance, we suspended the service and resumed in March when the conditions at the port improved,” he said.

KPA announced the suspension on Wednesday in a media advertisement.
There are 11 ships waiting for berths at the port. Mr Abok said this is a high season when the port receives many vessels, some arriving at the same time. The port has increased the number of berths reserved for containers from four to seven.

Kenya's Port managing director Abdallah Mwaruwa expressed concern about lack of stability and satisfaction with the computerised cargo handling and clearance system- Kwatos, which is the main reason why the port is experiencing the present congestion.

Since it was launched on July 1, this year, the Sh450 million system has reported problems of network interface with the already existing enterprise resource planning system which computerised KPA’s internal managerial system in the first phase of computerisation.

Mr Mwaruwa said the port may resort to the old manual system for some time. “The review will hopefully give Kwatos more time to be rectified,” he added.

KENYA: MOMBASA PORT NO LONGER FACING CARGO CLEARANCE PROBLEMS

The Kenya Mombasa Port has now started operating very efficiently after the previous years facing its stiffest challenges. This was due to an operational crisis caused by the cargo clearance operating system at it's facilities.The introduction of the automated Kilindini Waterfront Terminal Operations System (Kwatos), a cargo clearance system had failed to stabilise previously but which is now operating at good speed most of the time.

As a result, Shipping Lines, transporters and clearing and forwarding agents are now doing brisk business as the Kenyan Government has put mechanisms to attract foreign Vessels at the port. The Government though admitting that there was some teething problems with the systems at the port in the past which led to congestion at the port, defended the new Sh450 million investment and asked for patience, saying it was experiencing teething problems but would eliminate paper work associated with clearing of cargo in the long run.

Various ships are berthing every hours now.

DUBAI -AFRICA SHIPPING INCREASES

State-owned Dubai World is targeting new projects in six African countries as part of its investment drive on the continent, in which an official says ""We look at Africa as an emerging market because I would say other markets are dying of credit crunches," Daniel Saliba, an analyst for the company's Transactions for Africa and Indian Ocean unit, told news conference recently.

through it's Dubai World, One of the World's largest holding company that manages and supervises it's portfolio of businesses and projects across 100 different cities in the world to do business with Africa.

Cargo are sourced in Dubai. Whatever the trader is looking for, it can probably be found here. Clothes from India, electronics, and cars from Japan, locks from China, mobile phones from South Korea, food from Indonesia, half-life size models of Santa Claus from an unknown destination. The list is as endless as anyone's imagination.

Many international businesses which are interested in developing their market in the Middle East have been lured by some attractive features offered by Dubai. The sheer size of the market in Dubai has been increasing at a steady pace. Although the United Arab Emirates has a relatively smaller population than other Middle East countries, its total imports have been registering a steady growth with the passing of each year. The impressive performance can be attributed to the fact that Dubai has emerged as the major re-export centre for the entire Middle East region.

As the growth accelerates, So do shipping companies that operate UAE-African routes.They have been reporting impressive growth over the years and many lines are now eyeing the sector. Significant growth has been reported in shipping movement especially in Containers and RO-RO services to Africa from Dubai over the past years and this has led corporate business establishment like DubaiWorld and others to open offices in Africa and UAE to streamline their actvities.

KENYA PORT AUTHORITY GIVES NOTICE TO "UNCLAIMED CARS"

Port users in Mombasa want the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to sell by public auction over 665 motor vehicles that have been lying unclaimed at the Mombasa port for a long time.

A six-person task force appointed to deliberate on how the vehicles could be disposed of has recommended that the taxman serve a 30-day notice to the respective importers to come forward and collect the vehicles.

The vehicles that would remain uncollected after expiry of the notice should be sold by public auction, the task force recommended in a report that is expected to be adopted by the major the industry.

The vehicle owners are said to owe the KRA and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) over Sh500 million in unpaid duties and accumulated storage charges. The task force, which is led by the KPA’s reforms programme manager Mr James Mulewa, is advising both KRA and KPA to grant the vehicle importers a full waiver of accumulated customs warehouse rent and/ or port storage charges to importers of these vehicles so as to enable them to clear the vehicles.

Grant amnesty For Kenyan importers who come forward to claim their vehicles within 30 days of the gazette notice, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) should grant them amnesty even though their vehicles are over eight years old or left hand drive, the report continues.

“Vehicles still remaining uncleared at the port after the 30-day gazettement period is over should be auctioned as scrap or spare parts on “as is where is” basis for either local use or export,” the committee further recommends.

The committee says importers of most of the vehicles are from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Such importers should approach the Government of Kenya through their respective embassies for protocol arrangements to have their vehicles disposed off in their home countries within the proposed 30-day notice period.To avoid unnecessary diplomatic friction, the sale notice should be widely publicised both locally and regionally and also be given to the embassies of the destination countries besides being placed on the web sites of all the key stakeholders such as KRA, KPA, KIFWA, KSAA, Kampala City Traders Association (KCTA), Uganda International Clearing and Forwarding Association (UCIFA), among others.

“The above recommendations and procedures if adopted by the Authorities concerned will facilitate quick disposal of these long stay vehicles at G-Section and avail the space for better use,” the committee says.The committee said the number of vehicles could be more if those lying at container freight stations were counted.

The task force has been investigating the problem since its launch by stakeholders in August last year.It was formed after the uncollected vehicles brought a parking and congestion crisis at the port area leaving little room for other cargo.

The findings show that some of the vehicles do not conform to the Kenya Bureau of Standards Act as they were over eight years old at the time of importation. Others are left hand drive, which is also incompatible with the KEBS Act. Ninety per cent of the vehicles are transit goods and they have accumulated huge storage charges.

Some of the vehicles are said to have been broken into and vandalised, some vehicles have no bonnets and/or wheels while others are severely corroded by the coastal weather especially those in the open yards.

Some of the vehicle parts are said to be untraceable as they had been loaded separately in the containers carrying the vehicles from the port of origin. “Some of these items cannot be matched with the parent vehicles; others are missing and some have already been auctioned by KRA,” the task force says.

The committee comprises of members drawn from the KPA, KRA, KIFWA, Kebs and the Ugandan business community representatives.

ZAMBIA COPPER EXPORTS WILL BE SHIPPED THROUGH KENYA'S MOMBASA PORT

Mombasa port may resume handling Zambian copper exports following increased mining targets.

Zambia used the port more than 30 years ago to ship rich copper exports and now wants this business restarted as soon as modalities are finalised.

Zambian Permanent Secretary for Communications and Transport Fustern Mambwe said the main mining pit in the town of Ndola was expected to produce 20 million tonnes between next year and 2010.

Leading a delegation of permanent secretaries and top company officials from Zambia to Mombasa, Dr Mambwe said his country has targeted copper exports to lead a major push in economic development.

Saying other smaller copper mines had been given production targets, the PS said cumulative amounts cannot rely on the two outlets of ports of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Durban in South Africa. Besides, he added, the two ports are congested as opposed to Mombasa.

KENYA'S MOMBASA PORT TO BOOST EFFICIENCY

Kenya's Mombasa port users have expressed hope that the automation of the port terminal will greatly enhance efficiency of the shipping industry.

The Mombasa port serves inland countries as far as Central African republic, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Southern Sudan.

Ugandan business community representative, Mr William Kidima, termed the activation of the Kilindini Waterfront Automated System (Kwatos) as a milestone towards streamlining the services at the Mombasa port.

Kidima, however, cautioned that the system must be backed by competent and motivated port staff if the shipping industry is to realize its full benefits.

‘’The new system is good and we support it. However, everyone must know that Kwatos will not move a container from point A to point B or from the yard to the scanners. That still remains the work of the port’s crane and forklift drivers, who need to do satisfactorily work and he on time,’’ Kidima said.

The Kenya International Freight & Warehousing Association (KIFWA) officials said the implementation of Kwatos has complemented the gains of the Simba system of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

“With the launch of Kwatos, we hope the port management will have no excuses of delays such as those that have been happening at the gates,’’ the Kifwa vice-chairman, Mr Peter Mambembe, said.On his part, the Uganda representative said his country’s business community did not have problems with the port, which he described as more efficient than the KRA.

The latter, he said, should take cue from the port and reduce red tape.The Sh 450 million Kwatos system has automated operations in the container terminal, conventional cargo terminal, inland container depots in Nairobi and Kisumu as well as the marine operations.From the costs, Sh200 million covered software while Sh250m went into supporting infrastructure — such as gate modernisation, weighbridges, computer hardware and wireless infrastructure.

The IT project is expected to propel the status of the Mombasa port to new heights in terms of efficiency.The staff of Total Soft Bank, the Korean firm that installed the system is under the supervision of Mr Amos Wangora, KPA’s designated project manager.The port management expects the system to bring about better planning in the operational areas due to enhanced capacity and use of planning tools; optimised use of equipment leading to reduced wear and tear; and enhanced monitoring and supervision of work due to availability user friendly documents and procedures, reduced dwell-time of containers, and less congested offices and operational areas as clients are served from their premises or on appointment.Besides, there would be reduced time wastage as a result of enhanced communication andof real-time information.


The other benefits are enhanced security and better monitoring of cargo. The system users on the other hand will benefit from real time tracking of containers and documents, a development likely to reduce dwell time of goods in port.At the same time, the enhanced efficiency and time spent by clients in the port is likely to witness reduced overhead costs of overheads at the port and, indeed, reduced bureaucracy and corruption as client would henceforth be able to monitor status of documents and cargo on-line.The shipping service and road transport providers can also expect faster turn-around of vessels and trucks in the port.