Clearance of consolidated cargo made easier as Government gazettes deconsolidation facilities
By Samuel Migele
More than 7,500 small scale traders in Nairobi and the environs will
now find it easier to collect their goods from the Kenya Railways
Corporation (Boma Line) transit shed after the government gazettes the
facility to deconsolidate cargo.
In a bid to facilitate easy and faster clearance of cargo, the
Government of Kenya, through the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has
gazetted various facilities to be used for deconsolidation and
clearance of cargo imported by Small Scale traders.
All cargo consolidated at the countries of export, will, upon
importation into the country be deconsolidated at facilities designated
for that purpose. Effective Monday 8th February 2021, all consolidated
cargo imported by sea and transported to Nairobi through the Standard
Gauge Railway, will be deconsolidated, cleared, and collected by the
owners at the Kenya Railways Corporation (Boma Line) Transit Shed.
The shed, also known as ‘Boma line’ has been set up as part of
government efforts to facilitate and enhance ease of doing business.
The facility will also reduce the cost of doing business for small
traders. The facility will serve traders in Nairobi and its environs
while facilitating easy access of their goods.
Cargo designated for other parts of the country will be deconsolidated
at the other designated facilities. The owners of the consignment will
collect their cargo from the deconsolidated centres.
The small traders will now not pay the USD1000 as container deposits
which will subsequently reduce the cost of doing business.
Establishment of the ‘Boma Line’ is part of initiatives to bring
services closer to taxpayers and facilitate them to conduct their
business effectively and efficiently. For instance, going forward
traders from far areas such as Nanyuki and Sagana will no longer incur
huge transport costs to ferry their goods from ICDN as this shade will
be easily accessible.
Cargo for the SMEs will be transported from Kilindini Port to ICDN,
Embakasi, and later transshipped to the Transit Shed using Metre Gauge
Railway (MGR). At the shed, consolidated cargo will be stripped from
containers and stored in Customs shed while being arranged according to
their nature with marking for easy tracking and identification.
The verification by Customs officers and other Government agencies will
be done on these specific single goods as opposed to the typical
verification of a whole container. This therefore means that cargo
verification process will be simplified and there will be a great
improvement on the verification turnaround time.
Traders with goods of Customs value of USD 10,000 or less will now be
allowed to make an import declaration on a simplified Mobile App or a
direct assessment entry, while those with goods of Customs value above
USD 10,000 will clear through a registered clearing agent in the
Customs system.
The Transit Shed is expected to serve approximately 7, 500 small
traders in Nairobi and its environs and will accommodate approximately
100-40 foot containers per month raking in an approximate revenue of
Ksh110 Million.
The number of containers being cleared at the facility is later
expected to increase to approximately 300 containers per month during
the post Covid period. This will enable the country to collect revenue
of approximately Ksh1 Billion. The shed is expected to operate on a 24
hours basis during the post Covid-19 period.
Importers, cargo consolidators and their clearing agents are required
to fully comply and provide correct information to Customs to avoid the
contravention of Sections 203 (a) and (b) of the East African Customs
Management Act (EACCMA) 2004 that makes it an offence to make a false
declaration of any kind.
This project is a joint initiative between the Kenya Revenue Authority
(KRA) and Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) following the launch of a
Container Freight Station (CFS) by his Excellency President Uhuru
Kenyatta at the KRC Transit shed, Nairobi in November 2020.
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