Kampala. High port charges and delayed clearance have seen cargo at Mombasa port reach crisis levels, prompting the port’s authority to declare a three-month waiver, according to a media notice published on Wednesday.

However, the notice placed by the Kenya Ports Authority said the waiver will be limited to traders who have applied to clear their cargo between January and March 1. The move comes as a relief to traders who have failed to get their cargo out of the Mombasa due to delays in clearance.

Delays to clear goods at the port of Mombasa have affected trade in countries that use the port, creating shortages, which often translate into price hikes in such countries.Mr Gideon Badagawa, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda executive director told Daily Monitor this was good news, before adding: “I hope importers take advantage of that.”

According to KPA the waiver will elapse after 100 days, after that uncollected cargo will be destroyed, to restore the much needed order and sanity at East Africa’s largest port.

The port authority survey shows that over 466 export containers, 737 domestic imports and 294 transit containers have been lying at the port for between 100 and 1,000 days.
Daily Monitor could not establish how many of these are Uganda - bound, although it is evident that Uganda is the biggest regional user of the Mombasa Port.

Analysts have expressed pessimism, saying it won’t take long before the cargos piles up again to alarming levels if issues such as the cost of storage, rail, and water and road networks are not fixed.

According to Mr Badagawa, it costs between $2,900 and $3,500 to transport a container from Mombasa to Kampala.
Importers are charged a daily fee of $40, 15 days from the time their goods reach the country, besides the $1,000-$2,000 deposit paid to the shipping line. This is forfeited if cargo is not cleared in the specified time.

Kampala City Traders Association spokesman Isa Sekitto said in an earlier interview that traders are often forced to make costly trips to and from Mombasa to demand quicker clearance of freight and delivery, as their cargo remains in the ports for weeks or even months.

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