Kenya has revised its cargo deal with South Sudan. Chairman of South Sudan Freight Forwarders Association (SSFFA) Emmanuel Kachoul confirmed the repor
Kenya has revised its cargo deal with South Sudan. Chairman of South Sudan Freight Forwarders Association (SSFFA) Emmanuel Kachoul confirmed the report and said goods from the country will be cleared at the Port of Mombasa.
In 2019, his predecessor President Uhuru Kenyatta, in an effort to have the Mombasa Port decongested, ordered that all cargo clearance be shifted to Nairobi and Naivasha ICDs. Such frequent policy changes normally interrupt South Sudan’s consumer market directly, according to President Salva Kiir, in his address to the Kenyan counterpart this month in Juba.
Revenue effects
South Sudan shipments through the port of Mombasa amounts to 9.9% a year – which translates to about 1.1 million tons of cargo annually, making it second after Uganda with 83% of cargo through the port. Should it have failed to broker a deal, South Sudan had threatened to transfer business to the Djibouti route. This could have denied Kenya the huge revenue and result to a blow to the Lapsset Corridor, a regional flagship project intended to provide transport and logistics infrastructure aimed at creating seamless connectivity between the Eastern African Countries of Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
“We thank those who jointly raised strong voices of concern over the various challenges facing the South Sudan business community along the Northern Corridor transport route. As a community it’s our prayer that other remaining bottlenecks that affect our trade negatively like the illegal collection of extra fees on transit cargo destined S. Sudan shall be fully corrected,” Kachoul said.