FIRST SHIP WITH GOODS CLEARED UNDER ICMS ARRIVES AT THE PORT OF MOMBASA

FIRST SHIP WITH GOODS CLEARED UNDER ICMS ARRIVES AT THE PORT OF MOMBASA

By Donald Kogai

The Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) Sea cargo regime has gone live at the Port of Mombasa with the clearing of the first consignment of 43,400.835 metric tonnes of clinker.

The Vessel transporting the consignment, MV Ptolomeos, docked at the Port of Mombasa at 6.25 a.m. on Saturday, 3rd August 2019 and was offloaded to its destination.

The consignment was cleared automatically in the system, after the importer’s clearing agent, Express Shipping and Logistics (ESL), lodged entries in the system and paid duty of Ksh. 65 million before the arrival of the cargo.

The next bulk consignments to be cleared through iCMS are 42,000 metric tonnes of clinker and 25,540 metric tonnes of coal.

The former arrived at the Port of Mombasa on 7th August onboard MV Boreas Venture and the latter is expected to arrive on 21st August by MV African Hoeg respectively.

The clinker consignment which is still in high seas was cleared pre-arrival following the lodging of entry and payment of duty of Ksh. 62,657,000.

The coal importer, Riftcot Limited, has initiated the cargo clearance process by registering an import declaration form (IDF) to have the cargo released through the system.

KRA expects to collect revenue of more than Ksh. 40 million from the consignment.

Clearance of cargo through the new system is a major milestone for efforts by KRA to expedite Customs clearance of cargo and enhance trade facilitation.

iCMS will reduce the cargo dwell time for compliant imports at the Port of Mombasa since the system does not require human intervention at the document processing centre, unlike the Simba system.

iCMS has been implemented in phases. The clearance module for air cargo went live on 10th May, 2019, while the rollout for land and sea cargo began on 7th July, 2019.