The Kenyan Ports Authority [KPA] managing director, Gichiri Ndua, explained to Reuters news agency: "We were careful to engage every interested party and accommodated their views as we set the new tariffs so we should not have a problem adjusting to the new rates."
It seems that the KPA has learned its lesson from the last increase in its tariffs in 2007, when resistance from a number of shipping companies delayed the implementation until 2008.
Moreover, the KPA has taken steps to improve its efficiency by penalising importers that do not collect their cargo promptly.
Speaking at the KPA¡¯s annual summit earlier in the year, transport minister Amos Kimunya said: "This [planned action] will encourage people to quickly remove their cargo from the port as soon as it cleared by the authorities."
He claimed that consignees¡¯ failures to pick up boxes when they had been cleared cost consumers up to 40% more for their products and sapped the country¡¯s overall efficiency.
In H1 2012, Mombasa handled over 455,000teu, a jump of 25% over the corresponding period of 2011. |
