NAIROBI: Containerized cargo imports will from December 1 undergo mandatory Container Freight Station nomination by the Kenya Ports Authority.
This follows a government move to enforce a scheme aimed at curbing tax evasion and entry of sub-standard goods into the country. Under the new rule that come’s effective in two weeks, KPA will have the sole mandate of nominating freight containers to designated CFSs.
It will replace the current arrangement where Kenya-bound shippers and carriers would endorse specific stations. In a public notice on Friday, KPA managing director Gichiri Ndua said all local import containers including shippers nominated, must be manifested to the CFS nominated by the authority.
“All shippers, agents and shipping lines are therefore required to comply with this new government directive and ensure that shipping documents including manifests and Bill of Ladings are not endorsed to specific CFSs,” Ndua said. According to Ndua, KPA will process the nomination to the appointed gazetted CFS’s using an agreed distribution criteria.
Detailed guidelines and standard operating procedures for the directive are to be circulated today, Ndua said. A CFS is a port facility for loading and unloading containerised cargo to and from ships.
KPA entered into an agreement with private CFS’s in 2011 to help decongest the port, where CFS operators are required to clear cargo within 48 hours after being discharged from a vessel. Last year, the authority banned private CFSs and shades from operating within the port’s premises, forcing them to invest outside.
The government has outlined a four-month programme that also includes fresh vetting of all the registered 22 CFS’s in Mombasa and installation of approved stock management systems. A fortnight ago, KRA commissioner general John Njiraini said self nomination was being used “to look for ways of evading tax”.
According to Njiraini, the new measures are expected to cover tax loopholes which have denied KRA VAT on imports, Import Declaration Fees and the Railway Development Levy.
As at the end of October, VAT on imports was Sh47.2 billion against a four-month target of Sh54.9 billion, (July-October). The Railway Development Levy brought in Sh6.2 billion against a target of Sh9 billion.
He said KRA is working with the Kenya Bureau of Standards on pre-export verification of conformity, to counter wrong declaration and undervaluation of goods.
