In response to complaints from importers over high port charges, maritime authourities in East Africa have prevailed on Kenya to scrap some of the contentious levies that are being collected at the popular Mombassa port.
Doing a comparison of ports within the East Africa, the sub regional committee which is chaired by Kenya accused the country of imposing charges which do not exist in ports of neighbouring countries.
The controversial charges are similar to the ones that are currently being contested by Nigerian importers and freight forwarders and over which the freight forwarders went on strike last year.
The six levies to be scrapped in Kenya are: The terminal handling charges ($90- $135), delivery order fee ($60-$65), container handling charges ($25), equipment management fee ($50), handing over fee ($25 per document) and the 10 per cent administration fee charged at $40 minimum
The committee report says there are 25 charges levied on importers using the port of Mombassa, most of which do not exist in other ports.
(Please see details on page 9)
Discussion about this post