A Standard Gauge Railway passenger train arrives in Nairobi on May 31,
2017. Transporters are now complaining that the SGR cargo train has
taken over most of their business. PHOTO | FILE | GROUP
Hundreds of Container Freight Stations (CFS) workers and drivers
in Mombasa have been rendered jobless, thanks to increase in the volume
of goods transported by train through the Standard Gauge Railway.
The
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) issued a directive in June that containers
destined to Mombasa for local clearance would not be allowed to be
nominated by clients to any CFS.
“The
nomination shall be done by KPA based on vessel rotation, volumes, and
individual CFS capacity; you are required to inform your clients in your
various ports of loading accordingly,” said KPA in the June statement.
On Monday, the Nation learnt that CFSs and transport firms in Mombasa have started laying off workers following reduced business.
More
than 500 truck drivers and 100 workers in CFSs have been declared
redundant after the government ordered cargo to be cleared from Nairobi.
CFS Association has already moved to court to challenge the directive and the case is pending.
SACKED 30 PEOPLE
“That
directive has totally affected our business. As we speak, I have sacked
30 people from the company. Some have even received their sacking
letters today,” said a senior manager at one of the CFSs in Mombasa who
asked not to be named.
He said the CFS receives very little cargo that can no longer sustain its business.
“The
work that we used to do has now been transferred to Nairobi and we can
no longer pay our staff. All the CFSs in Mombasa are facing a bleak
future. There is no future in this business anymore,” he said.
“Now
even the little cargo that KPA has allocated to us, Kenya Revenue
Authority(KRA) wants port clearance. That begs the question, is it that
there is scarcity of jobs or just that they want to end the CFS
business. These actions tell us that there is no hope in this business,”
he said.
START BRANCHES
Some
CFSs have also been forced to relocate to Nairobi or start branches
there. A number of businesses that relied on the CFSs and transporters
in Mombasa have also been affected as local economy feels the pinch of
transfer of business to Nairobi.
Apex
steel company assistant manager Daniel Ndege said the company is
feeling the heat of the directive as it is incurring unnecessary costs.
“The issue is that they are trying to force us to transport the
containers to Nairobi and for us we do nominations on our side. If we do
nominations, we have the full mandate to nominate the CFS we need as
importers in Kenya.
So if you force
us to track the containers to Nairobi and we are based in Mombasa, then
definitely you are trying to force us to do things and incurring double
costs. A container reaching Nairobi and returning it back to Mombasa is a
loss,” he said.
COMPETITIVE BUSINESS
Mr Ndege said SGR should engage in competitive business and not stifle competitors.
Kenya
Transporters Association operations co-ordinator Mercy Ireri said: “As
we speak now, a cargo train carries 108 containers and making seven
trips daily. That literally means that more than 500 truck drivers are
currently jobless. Hundreds of trucks have no business and this is to
the detriment of our members, who have pumped billions of shillings into
buying trucks, trailers and other infrastructure,” she said. Some 1,300
containers arrive at the port daily.
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