The Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII) Report cited the East African Community as the most integrated region.
Further, the Eastern Africa Regional Integration Strategy Paper 2011 – 2015 cites Kenya as the regional trade hub accounting for 33 percent of intra-regional trade, attributed to its larger private sector, followed by Uganda (21%) and Tanzania (11%).
These can be attributed to the infrastructural growth that the country is doing to ensure there is efficiency within the trucking industry.
The Oxford Business Group says, “Transport activity is expanding in tandem with infrastructure spending.”
International Finance Corporation (IFC) a member of the World Bank Group in East Africa says the country has the highest cargo transport prices in the world for a region that relies heavily heavily on trucking to move cargo around accounting for approximately 95 percent.
However, with the continued efforts to modernise the road network, Kenya’s transport and logistics sector is proving itself robust, with lucrative prospects for the long term for achieving Vision 2030 targets.
Subsequently, to compliment the government’s efforts, to ensure efficiency and no delays in cargo transport, GWETHPRO will host the 2016 Commercial Transport and Public Vehicle Expo (COTRANS) in Nairobi.
The expo will bring together stakeholders in the Business transport and the entire stakeholders all under one roof to showcase various products and solutions in the Commercial Transport industry.
“COTRANS Expo aims to facilitate the transport industry in identifying technological solutions to meet the challenges and align with the transformation,” say the organisers.
According to GWETHPRO, “Kenya is the largest economy and a business hub in East Africa considering the advantage of the Port of Mombasa with a trade volume of 24.9 million tones and over 1 million twenty-foot containers (TUEs) and the largest airport in the region handling approximately 20,000 passengers per day and 250,000 tones in cargo capacity. These two factors makes the country´s goods and people movement crucial for the regional economic development with Kenya serving all the neighboring landlocked countries among them Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi and Congo.”
Thus, the expo will provide an opportunity the stakeholders to showcase, the most comprehensive range of Commercial transport, Equipment, Components, Accessories and the latest trends in transport and logistics technology, to the vibrant and diverse cross section of users, fleet operators and decision makers from commercial, public transportation and freight carrying industry in East Africa.
The event will also provide an opportunity for the policy makers to elaborate on the measures undertaken to ensure there is efficiency in the truck industry through qualitative regulation, policies and legislations for an effective transit regime.
Article by David Indeje.