Removal of customs bond lifts transit cargo at Port of Mombasa
Dec 7, 2016: Mombasa port has registered a growth of 2.4 per cent for the transshipment cargo in ten months through October compared to the same period last year, the Kenya Ports Authority data shows.
The increase in volume has been attributed to abolishment of customs bond by the Kenya Revenue Authority. This followed transition to Regional Customs Transit Guarantee which started in February for goods cleared under the Single Customs Territory.
Kenya’s Mombasa Port is East Africa’s largest port that handled 461,502 tonnes of transshipment cargo between January and October compared to 450,472 tonnes handled a year earlier, marking an upward trend for the third year in a row.
The regional leading harbour by performance handled 22 ,895 ,408 tonnes of cargo against 22,224 ,369 in a similar period last year, a rise of three per cent.
In October, the Kenya Revenue Authority shelved trans-shipment bonds that have been blamed for the low growth of the sector’s business.
Shipping lines had for long been pushing for the removal of the bonds. Majority had been avoiding the port of Mombasa for transshipment due to the bond.
