Stakeholders in the transport and logistics service industry converged in Nairobi for a two-day regional dialogue on the economic and competitiveness challenges facing the sector in the region.

The dialogue which was opened by Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Kenya, Eng. John Mosonik was organized by the COMESA Business Council (CBC) and brought together transporters, shippers, port authorities, freight forwarders, customs and clearing agencies among others.

COMESA Secretary General Mr Sindiso Ngwenya told the delegates that some stubborn issues existed in the transport sector which have slowed the deepening of regional integration and made it difficult for goods to flow easily across the region.

“There is limited awareness on customs and trade facilitation instruments, vehicle overload controls at weigh bridges and different load systems that are applied in the regional states,” Mr Ngwenya said.

He cited other handicaps as customs interconnectivity issues which resulted in intermittent network and electronic system downtimes, slow speed of systems, multiple documentation and process requirements and port inefficiencies.

To address these challenges, he said COMESA had developed various trade facilitation instruments that include the COMESA Yellow Card which is a third party motor vehicle insurance scheme, the Regional Customs Bond to replace the multiple national bonds required in each country of transit, the Carrier License, Harmonized Axle Loads and the Virtual Trade Facilitation System.

These instruments, Mr Ngwenya said are aimed at ensuring reduction of time loss across borders, efficiency in auto-tracking of cargo, revenue collection and opportunities for corruption along the corridors.

“Transport and logistics lie at the center of trade and regional integration. It is when imports and exports can reach their destination without delay at the most affordable cost that the competitiveness of industries increases at both global and regional level,” Mr. Ngwenya said.

He described the dialogue as an opportunity to provide solutions to the long standing challenges associated with transport, logistics and the movement of cargo in the region and Africa as a whole.

In his address, Eng Mosonik outlined the investments that the Kenya government had made in development of transport infrastructure given the country’s strategic location as a getaway to other parts of the region.

These include the construction of the second container terminal at the Port of Mombasa whose first phase is expected to be completed by 2016. Others are the standard gauge railway linking the port to the hinterland economies of eastern and central Africa and a state of the art Greenfield terminal at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with capacity to handle 12.5 million passengers.

The Chairperson of the COMESA Business Council Dr Amany Asfour called for continuous dialogue, engagement and consultation between the private sector and governments to resolve the challenges in the transport and logistics sector.