KPA Extends Free Consignment Storage Services for Up to 3 Months

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has given port users a 3-month extension of free storage in their facilities.

Domestic exports will now enjoy up to 15 days of free storage, up from the usual 9 days. Domestic import containers, on the other hand, will get free 5-day storage, up from the initial 4 days.

Transit export containers will continue enjoying up to 20 days of free storage, a 5-day extension.

KPA has also given the transit import container free storage services for up to 14 days at its facilities and the Inland Container Port in Embakasi.

Conventionally, KPA usually allows up to 9 days of consignment storage to attract payment on the tenth day.

“The extension period is subject to review after the validity period depending on the business dynamics,” acting managing director John Mwangemi notes.

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The extension is valid effective July 20 to October 20.

The ports authority first introduced the free storage services in 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. It ran from May 18 to August 18, but was extended to March 2021, and further to July. The move is to cushion importers, exporters, and transporters from demurrage charges and storage fees.

Normally, importers and exporters incur charges of slightly above 3,200 shillings and 9,700 shillings a day for cargo that stays the free storage period and more than 24 days, depending on the consignment size.

Shipping lines also incur a demurrage charge of 2,715 shillings per container, a charge payable to the owner of a ship on failure to load or discharge cargo within the agreed time.

Any extended period is a relief for local manufacturers and exporters who say they are not accessing containers to load their goods, amid the vessel shortage.

“This has impacted on the cost of doing business due to increased freight charges as a result of the high demand vis-a-vis low supply of containers within the region,” the Kenya Association of Manufacturers CEO Phyllis Wakiaga said in a statement.

The free storage extension, therefore, comes as a relief for manufacturers and traders currently grappling with a container shortage amid a disruption on the global supply chain.

This has been occasioned by the shortage of vessels coming to Kenya and the East Africa region which now enters its second month.

According to the logistics firm–Bollore, the influx of trade flows from China to Europe and the US has led to constrained shipping capacity as well as a shortage of containers.

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“In the last six months, the global shipping industry has seen an increase in demand for shipping services as businesses work to recover from the effects of Covid-19,” the firm notes.

Meanwhile, international freight charges have gone up by between 20–25 percent, according to the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA).