In August, Kenya Revenue Authority and the Kenya Ports Authority issued a joint public notice to importers requiring them to move their containers from Mombasa to Nairobi Inland Container Depot (ICD) through the SGR. The SGR cargo train has struggled to attract adequate volumes, with investors afraid of at the tariffs to transport goods from the Mombasa port to the ICD in Nairobi.
KRA has issued a stern warning to importers falsifying their destination address to escape the cost of transporting their imports inland through the SGR, which is expensive.
“It has come to the notice of Kenya Revenue Authority that some importers whose destination address is Nairobi are currently using falsified Mombasa addresses as a destination in a bid to avoid the transfer of their cargo from Mombasa to Inland Container Deport Nairobi for clearance, this is a deliberate attempt to transfer cargo through SGR to ICD Nairobi.
“KRA hereby notifies importers and the general public that customs clearance shall be facilitated either in Mombasa or Nairobi only when correct KRA Pin address has been manifested and used in the customs declaration,” read a statement from the authority
Importers have been cautioned that any use of the wrong addresses shall be treated as an offense of misdeclaration which attracts penalties under the East African Community Customs Management Act. Those found culpable of the above type of misdeclaration shall meet the cost of transferring the cargo to the right address.
According to the Kenya Transporters, it costs about Ksh 80,000 to truck a container from the port to a business on the outskirts of Nairobi by road, while the container costs nearly Ksh100,000 on the SGR including the Sh30,000 fees of getting the cargo from the ICD in Embakasi to the owner’s premise.
