Logistics industry players have set their eyes on the transformations expected this year as key agencies line up upgrading of their Information Technology (IT) systems to improve efficiency.
KenTrade, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) have initiated processes on their cargo clearing systems to accommodate new trends in the industry.
KPA said that a new Terminal Operating System (TOS) it is developing is at a more advanced integrated platform when compared to the current Kilindini Waterfront Automated Terminal Operation System (KWATOS), which was created in 2008.
The new system incorporates additional systems like Reefer Management System (RMS), Optical Character Reader (OCR), Truck Appointment System (TAS), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Barcode for Conventional operations, for a competitive edge in the maritime business.
The New Terminal Operations System will also comprise smart gate, smart yard, smart quay, smart rail, smart motor vehicle and break bulk operations.
Interfacing various key cargo interveners including Revenue Authorities, Cargo Owners, Shipping Agents, Partner Government Agencies (PGAS) and Clearing and Forwarding Agents, the new system is expected to improve port business through enhanced efficiency and productivity in port operations, documentation and seamless interface with relevant port community systems.
The new TOS is to comprise a smart gate, smart yard, smart quay, smart rail, smart motor vehicle and break bulk operations.
“Other overall benefits of the TOS include faster vessel productivity and turnaround, optimised yard, rail and gate operations; increased visibility of operations; planned workloads, control of operations and storage, enhanced workers safety; timely and accurate billing; improved business intelligence and reporting,” Ms Evelyn Mwamure, Manager TOS & Operations Projects at KPA said in last year.
Another major breakthrough expected this year is the full launch of the Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) that was planned before the end of the year after piloting the Sea Cargo Release module. The air cargo function went live in various airports across the country including Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on March 10, 2019.
This module is integrated with KRA iCMS for seamless exchange of clearance data including scheduling of joint verification messages with Partner Government Agencies (PGAs). It has an inbuilt dash board to facilitate importers to monitor progress of clearance of their goods.
“Integration between the Kenya TradeNet and KRAs iCMS is almost complete. The only remaining part is the integration with the exports module which we target to complete by the end of October 2020,” Mr. Amos Wangora said in September last year.
On September 10, 2020, the Cabinet Secretary National Treasury made it mandatory for importers under the East African Community Duty Remission Scheme to lodge their applications online through the Kenya TradeNet System. The module is integrated with KRA iCMS system, which will enable seamless information flow, eliminating manual processes thus reducing time taken to lodge and process documents.
It is envisaged that full integration between the two systems will herald a new era of paperless cargo clearance and introduction of risk-based cargo interventions. It will enable concepts like Pre-arrival clearance to be a reality as defined under WTO TFA agreement.
Overall there will be a reduction in time taken to clear goods, cost of doing business in the country, increasing our World Bank ease of doing business ranking and making us competitive in the international arena.
KenTrade has also unveiled a schedule to upgrade TradeNet System to enhance its users’ experience and avoid the system becoming technologically obsolete. This was after the stakeholders were invited last year to give their inputs in a gap analysis process that the KenTrade had initiated.
In liaison with KenTrade internal team, the system developers are currently deploying the developed system solution to the production environment in readiness for the next step which is User Acceptance Testing, Mr Wangora said recently. This is scheduled to commence by mid-October and will run until March 2021. The new system is scheduled to Go-Live with Phase 1- Piloting with Selected Users for April 5, 2021.
“It will take approximately 18 months to finalize on the Upgrade but I want to assure you that the process will have minimum interference with the normal operations of the System,” Wangora assured the stakeholders
The upgrade, which according to the agency is long overdue, will address the challenges of delays in document processing, lack of a 2-factor user authentication mechanism and address the problem of the limited document security features.
Other challenges the system has experienced in the past and which the upgraded system seeks to cure are limited visibility of information to users due to lack of dashboards and few standard reports and cumbersome user registration process delaying registration process.
Piloting of the Single Maritime Window System started piloting in November last year with six shipping lines until January 2020 in a move expected to significantly improve ships clearing and turnaround at the port of Mombasa.
KenTrade is working with the KMA to implement the system that is meant to facilitate ship clearance procedures by providing a single online portal for the declaration of information on the arrival, stay and departure of ships between the shipping line/agent and the approving government agencies involved in the process.
It is a mandatory requirement for national governments to introduce electronic information exchange between ships and ports, which came into effect from 8 April 2019. This is aimed at making cross-border trade simpler and the logistics chain more efficient for the more than 10 billion tons of goods that are traded by sea annually across the globe.
The requirement, under International Maritime Convention’s (IMO’s) Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention), is part of a package of amendments under the revised Annex to the FAL Convention, adopted in 2016.
This will reduce or eliminate the manual, decentralized, duplicated and unnecessary lengthy processes in the maritime sector which is affecting the ship turnaround time and increased costs at the port of Mombasa.
“The MSW system testing was planned for March 2020 and rolled out in April 2020 but owing to COVID19 disruption, there were setback in the schedule which I am glad to report is now fully back on course,” Wangora said in a recent address, adding that once completed, the project is expected to provide a lot of benefits to both the maritime and trade facilitation industry.
“The new FAL Convention requirement for all Public Authorities to establish systems for the electronic exchange of information related to maritime transport marks a significant move in the maritime industry and ports towards a digital maritime world, reducing the administrative burden and increasing the efficiency of maritime trade and transport,” said IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim in an earlier press release.
