Kenya vowed to sell off cargo that was stranded in its depots and was headed for Juba

If it is not relocated by July 31st, some cargo that is headed for South Sudan will be put up for auction in Kenya.

The owners of the 85 lots of cargo that were headed for South Sudan and others for Kenya accuse the overstay at various Nairobi warehouses on dishonest clearing and forwarding agencies, instability, and recent clearing cargo directives.

Chief Manager George Aduwi of the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) Customs and Border Control Department announced the measures in a Gazette Notice, in compliance with Section 42 of the East African Community Customs Management Act.

“Notice is given that, on July 31, August 1st, and 2, online auctions may be held to sell the aforementioned items if they are not removed from the custody of Customs Warehouse Keeper, Inland Container Depot Nairobi, within 30 days of this notice. During office hours on July 29 and 30, interested buyers may see the goods at the specified places, according to Mr. Aduwi’s announcement.

In order to free up space in the warehouses, customs typically gets rid of items that were not properly removed from the warehouses.

“The flow of cargo from Kenya into South Sudan has been affected by the government’s introduction of several directives and the insecurity on the Northern Corridor in Nimule and Bantiu,” said Edwin Karissa, a clearing agency based in Mombasa.

Some traders consider Juba’s terms burdensome for doing business. For example, Juba has demanded $350 from all importers and exporters in order to implement the new Electronic Cargo Tracking Note (ECTN) tracking system.

Invesco Uganda Ltd. was chosen to manage the program under the direction of the South Sudan Revenue Authority (SSRA)’s Customs Revenue Division after South Sudan’s Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol, notified shippers of the additional fees. However, traders filed a lawsuit to stop the program’s execution.

Samwel Bolis, an SSRA official in Mombasa, charged dishonest clearing agents in Kenya of defrauding merchants and abandoning cargo stranded in warehouses.

The cargo that is scheduled for auction is a result of the numerous complaints we have received from South Sudanese clients who were defrauded of their money by intermediaries who claimed to clear their cargo in Kenya. Mr. Bolis stated, “We have requested that KRA provide information about these items and get in touch with our dealers to figure out how to remove them before to auction.

“We will be listing the names of reliable clearing and forwarding agents who will be able to clear cargo from South Sudan going forward. Their fees will be paid through bank accounts to facilitate easier traceability.”

Kenya Ports Authority 2023 Annual Review and Bulletin of Statistics states that throughout the last four years, cargo through the port of Mombasa bound for South Sudan has increased, tripling from 769,886 metric tonnes in 2019 to 1.92 million metric tonnes in 2023.

South Sudan is the second nation in East Africa to use Mombasa port, following Uganda, which had a decrease in trade through the port the previous year.

More than 200,000 metric tonnes less cargo headed for Uganda passed through Mombasa port in 2023 than there was in other regional States.

Uganda, which has long been the country with the largest cargo transit via the Mombasa port, recorded a total flow of 7,115,079 MT of commodities in 2022, down from 7,319,408 MT in 2022.

Owing to inefficiencies at the port of Dar es Salaam, Mombasa’s cargo handled for Tanzania grew from 235,531 MT in 2022 to 312,871 MT last year. In contrast, freight heading for the Democratic Republic of the Congo increased dramatically from 962,888 MT to 1,510,979 MT last year.