The Kenya Ports Authority management led by KPA board chair Benjamin Tayari and Managing Director Captain William Ruto have scaled up efforts to improve port services along the Northern corridor.
The move is aimed at ensuring that the port of Mombasa remains the port of choice in the importation and transportation of cargo in transit markets along the corridor.
During a tour of the Mukwano Industries in Uganda on Wednesday, Chairman Tayari and MD Ruto assured the business community that delays at the Malaba border post will be addressed through automation to ensure cargo is delivered to its destination in good time.
"KPA will also work closely with the Kenyan embassy in Uganda to organize business symposiums with the business community in Uganda to pick emerging issues and effectively find solutions," said Tayari.
In the last visit to the transit markets, the KPA delegation met and engaged customers in Kampala Uganda in a bid to streamline services and address shipping and logistics challenges experienced by the business community.
Earlier on Tuesday, the KPA delegation met with the Burundi Business Community where they urged them to utilize the Naivasha and Nairobi Inland Container Depot for clearance of cargo.
"Non-tariff barriers like weighbridges along the northern corridor, free storage period and port charges are some of the customer concerns that KPA will address to improve efficiency of the Port of Mombasa," Tayari said.
The delegation was in Bujumbura for the ongoing transit stakeholder visit to understand customer concerns and needs.
The delegation later paid a courtesy call on Kenya's High Commissioner to Burundi H.E Daniel Wambura.
Last weekend, the KPA chair was in the Democratic Republic of Congo where he reiterated KPA’s commitment to faster and efficient clearance of cargo destined to DRC when he met the business community in Goma.
He said that the Kenyan government has undertaken to reduce the number of weigh bridges along the northern corridor which have caused delays in cargo movement to the hinterlands and transit markets.
"KPA is also planning to open an office in Goma to efficiently serve the DRC business community in DRC in shipping and transport logistics," he said.
The Chairman and his delegation including Managing Director Captain William Ruto, Director Emmanuel Kibet, General Manager Corporate Services Edward Kamau and other senior managers earlier on paid a courtesy call on the Governor of North Kivu Lieutenant General Constant Ndima Kogba.
