Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA) wants Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Railways to take charge of expenses being incurred after delays of containers from Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Nairobi.
The council stated that shippers have incurred losses resulting from delays to transport empty containers back to Mombasa from ICD. They want the matter to be resolved to help importers from incurring further losses.
Gilbert Lang’at, SCEA executive officer said that importers have had to forgo their deposits. due to delays to load containers at the Mombasa port and return empty containers from Nairobi.
"We have asked importers to furnish us with information on how much they have paid but so far there are reports that the charges range between $5,000 (Sh510,000) and $ 25,000 (Sh2.5 million) over the past month,Currently as a result of the delays, shippers have incurred container demurrage charges running to millions. This is a lot of money going into charges and it is not sustainable for importers. At times it takes 10 days for a container to be railed to the ICD from the time of offloading at the port,” said Lang'at.
Last week SCEA wrote a statement to media houses saying there was a need for KPA and KRC to ensure cargo is transferred from the port within the shortest time possible and that KPA and KRC must take responsibility for delays.