Kenya Freight Clearance and Forwarding Procedures
1. Kenya Customs
Clearance Procedure
Imports into Kenya
undergo various tasks through Kenyan customs and Kenya Port Authority during
clearance of freights and cargo in Kenya. All these are procedures that freights
and cargo undergo and carried out by Kenya clearing ageants and Kenya Revenue
Authority (KRA) Customs officials.
1.1 Customs
Declaration
All going well, prior
to actual vessel arrival date in Mombasa, the shipping line lodges its online
manifest with customs (into Simba Tradex system) and the port authorities (port
KWATOS system). The manifest number pertaining to the concerned shipment on
board of the vessel is advised by the shipping line. Special attention has to
be given to the place of clearance (port / CFS (Container Freight Station) as
this may differ depending on special nature of the cargo (dangerous cargo) or
special request from the importer as stated on the bill of lading or granted by
the ports authorities (see point 1.3 – Container Freight Station consigning
above).
Against the uploaded
manifest, a customs entry is prepared on the Simba Tradex online system by the
importers clearing agent.
Parallel to this, once
the manifest is uploaded by the shipping line, the original Bill of Lading duly
endorsed by the consignee (or the telex release) is submitted to the shipping
line for issuance and release of a delivery order. This is done after
settlement of the local shipping line charges. The shipping line has to ensure
the delivery order is also uploaded online.
Uploaded entries are
passed after either payment of duties or confirmation of exemption by means of
the exemption letter code in the customs system.
1.2 Customs Long
Room Formalities
A customs folder is
prepared by the clearing agents declaration team, and a set of documents is
dispatched to customs long room in Mombasa where the documents are endorsed
after being checked by customs. Endorsed documents are dispatched to the point
of final clearance, i.e. Port of Mombasa (KPA) or nominated Container
Freight Station to the resident customs officers.
At the point of
clearance the mode of verification is assigned by customs and executed i.e.
sight and release, direct release, normal verification, 100% verification,
scanning, etc…
1.3 Customs
Verification and / or Scanning
For scanning the
container is loaded on a truck and passed through the scanning machines either
in the port or at the Container Freight Station. If the scanning image shows
any irregulaties, customs will usually proceed to do verification.
For customs
verification containers have to be placed down, opened and stripped. If
verification is to be performed at a Container Freight Station, all cargo has
to be transferred to the respective Container Freight Station by the Container
Freight Station operator.
A verification report,
which must tally with the customs declaration, is inserted on the Tradex –
Simba system by the Customs Officer. If the results of the designated
verification procedure indicate any abnormalities then the customs will usually
proceed for 100% verification. Any discrepancies on value-quality-quantity or
the finding of any undeclared items will lead to customs raising an offence for
which the outcomes are varied and guided by the customs management act.
If cargo was not
verified / scanned or if the results of this was a clean bill, customs can
issue a customs release order once it is confirmed that the delivery order
obtained earlier is reflecting online (indicating the clearing agent for which
the cargo was checked by customs is indeed to be released to this clearing
agent).
1.4 KPA Pick Up
Order or Container Freight Station Release order
A pick up order is
generated via the Kwatos website, on line, for all consignments cleared within
the port of Mombasa. This pick up order is attached to the set of documents
(which includes the delivery order, passed customs entry, customs release
order) and presented to CDO (Customs Documentation Office) at Port.
Port Charges are then
paid usually by deducting the clearing agents running account with the port.
Cargo can then be evacuated out of the port premises. Allocated truck and
trailer must be booked via kwatos for loading purposes.
For Container Freight
Station clearance, principle is the same in general Container Freight
Station Release Order process though issueing of release orders and payment
of Container Freight Station charges can differ per Container Freight
Station (some are manual, some electronic, some require bankers cheques, others
can give credit). Once charges are secured and paid, a gate pass is issued to
the clearing agent for collection of cargo and loading purposes.