According to the-star.co.ke, high fuel expenses, border delays, and fragmented logistics systems are undermining East Africa’s trade competitiveness, with fuel now accounting for 55 per cent of road transport costs — up from 38 per cent in 2021.
Mounting Cost Pressures Across the Northern Corridor
Agayo Ogambi, chief executive of the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa, delivered this assessment during the East Africa CEO and Investment Forum 2026, held on September 17–18 in Nairobi. He stressed that logistics costs have become a major constraint for businesses, driven by rising fuel prices, road charges, vehicle operating costs, border bottlenecks, and empty truck returns.
Ogambi emphasized that the challenge extends beyond physical infrastructure: “The key challenge is not only infrastructure capacity, but the cost and unpredictability of moving cargo across the entire corridor,” he said. He noted that the Port of Mombasa serves as the primary gateway for imports and exports across the wider East African region — a role placing acute pressure on corridor efficiency.
The 1,700-kilometre Northern Corridor — linking Mombasa with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo — remains central to regional trade. Yet cargo movement between Mombasa and Kampala averaged 111 hours in July–September 2025, far exceeding the target of 72 hours. Similarly, the Mombasa–Malaba segment required 85 hours, against a target of 40 hours.
Harmonisation and Digital Integration Urged
Ogambi identified customs and border procedures as another critical bottleneck, citing repetitive documentation, inspections, permits, and inconsistent national requirements. He called for greater harmonisation — including expanded pre-clearance, risk-based inspections, regional bonds, and more efficient One-Stop Border Posts.
He also advocated for deeper integration of physical infrastructure — ports, roads, railways, inland container depots, logistics hubs, and truck terminals — arguing that planning must shift from isolated projects to end-to-end trade corridor performance. Under this model, governments would measure total logistics costs, door-to-door transit times, port and border dwell times, truck turnaround, rail utilisation, and delivery reliability.
Digital fragmentation emerged as a further obstacle. Ogambi proposed a regional approach built on “one process, one data flow, one regional transit system”, requiring harmonised electronic data standards, mutual recognition of controls, strengthened electronic cargo tracking, and expansion of regional transit bonds — all aimed at enabling real-time information sharing across the supply chain.
Competitive Corridors and Implementation Gaps
The Northern Corridor faces direct competition from Tanzania’s 1,300-kilometre Central Corridor, which links Dar es Salaam with landlocked neighbours including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and eastern DRC. As traders compare routes, corridor efficiency and predictability increasingly determine freight routing decisions.
The forum underscored a broader implementation gap: while regional integration commitments exist, businesses demand concrete action. Ahmed Farah, executive director of the East African Business Council (EABC), stated that “the measure of regional integration should be whether businesses can operate across borders more efficiently, predictably and at lower cost.” The EABC has also highlighted the need to eliminate non-tariff barriers, harmonise standards, reduce logistics costs, and ensure consistent implementation of regional agreements.
Source: the-star.co.ke
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
