Protests by over a thousand clearing and forwarding agents at the Port of Mombasa were announced yesterday following changes in tax which caused 1,200 containers unable to be cleared, reported Daily Nation.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) imposed the higher taxes without informing the agents at the port, who only discovered such taxes when members attempted to handle cargo.
The changes in taxation are applicable to commodity cargo such as rice and powdered milk; Bernard Simiyu, Mombasa Branch Secretary of the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association, said: “KRA didn’t inform us about the increased tariffs. We just learnt about the duty increase two months ago when our members went to clear cargo at the port.”
This news comes after PTI reported on October 25, 2016 that the Port of Mombasa was losing business from its East African neighbours due to persistent issues with fuel contamination; Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam Port was chosen by Rwanda and Burundi for fuel imports, taking business away from Mombasa.
Earlier in October, 2016, the South Korean shipping industry took a hit when three simultaneous strikes by rail workers, truckers and bunker fuel tanker operators have severely curtailed operations at its major ports.
