The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis) has introduced new steep cargo inspection fees at the Mombasa Port starting March 1, drawing protests from traders.
In changes that will impact the cost of business, Kephis has set an inspection fee of Sh2,000 and Sh500 for a 20-foot and 40-foot container respectively.
"This is to notify all stakeholders that these charges will take effect from March 1, 2025, following an agreement made during stakeholders meetings held on December 10, 2024 and February 19, 2025,” the State agency said.
“The rollout will begin with a pilot phase covering both inbound and outbound sea vessels and containers to ensure phytosanitary compliance, mitigate risks, and uphold trade standards,” it added.
In the notice to stakeholders signed by Kephis managing director Theophilus Mutui, all shipping lines and agents will be required to share the manifest for both imports and exports with the department in advance to facilitate efficient inspection and compliance.
Traders, however, protested the new fees noting that they would impact shipment costs.
Elijah Mbaru, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Shipping Agents Association (KSAA), said that shipping is regulated by international laws and the move by Kephis would cause additional delays in the supply chain.
He said that the Kephis charges are a duplication of the services already rendered by Kenya Port Health.
"Kephis has no business to do with inspection of ships. It's a confine of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and pegged in the cluster of MARPOL port state control under Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA),” the official said.
“Also, all containers are inspected from the port of load by qualified surveyors for empties and laden by various government organs and issued with a COC (certificate of compliance) hence charges not warranted at all additionally port health under FAL (Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic), convention board the ships to ensure conformity of edibles and crew hygiene including medicines onboard," Mr Mbaru said.
The FAL Convention contains standards and recommended practices and rules for simplifying formalities, information requirements, and procedures on ships.
East African Tea Trade Association Managing Director George Omuga claimed that the Trade and Investment Ministry had promised to intervene on the Kephis charges but that hasn’t happened.
“The implementation was pushed from July 1, 2024, for further consultation but the charges haven’t been reviewed. This means, importing 150 containers of tea per day we have to pay $5780 (Sh750,000) for a sample of minor consignment for quality examination from $1156 (Sh150,000),” Mr Omuga said.
The Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA) CEO Agayo Ogambi said traders will pass on the Kephis charges to consumers.
“We export in bulk and for instance, if a business exports an estimated 400 units of 40ft reefer containers of fresh produce then this means annual Phytosanitary cost will increase from the current $4625 (Sh600,000) to $35,466(Sh4.6 million) which represent about 670 percent of increase on phytosanitary costs,” he said.
Reefer containers are big, mobile fridges that are used to transport and store products that need to be temperature controlled such as fruits, meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, dairy, medication and beverages.
The SCEA official urged the government to allocate more funds to agencies that are playing a key role in clearing cargo.
“Every agency has been asked to generate its own revenues, but some services do not warrant charges and the government has enough funds through taxes to fund that. If this is implemented, we shall set precedence of other more than 30 agencies at the port to introduce such charges,” Mr Ogambi said.
With the introduction of such charges, Kenya will become one of the most expensive routes in East Africa to import and export considering Tanzania charges about $17 (Sh2,201.45) for a phytosanitary certificate and inspection fee for export.
But Pro. Mutui has been defending the move saying the implementation of fees for phytosanitary services will ensure quality imports and exports of agricultural produce and products while also preventing the introduction and spread of pests and diseases.
