ISCOS, the Inter-Governmental Standing Committee on Shipping, a regional Organisation formed in 1967 by Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia to take care of their common shipping, maritime and logistics Interests, launched a mobile-based Trade Facilitation Platform where importers, exporters and other stakeholders can report and monitor any Non-Tariff Barrier (NTB) or undesirable Non-Tariff Measure (NTM) causing hindrance to trade and to the movement of cargo in the Region.
The platform, dubbed “ISCOS Shipplinc”, is accessible via an app that can be freely downloaded by Android and iPhone operating systems, and provides information on various aspects of Freight Logistics and International Trade, included information on regional trade corridors and port key performance indicators which are fed into the system on a continuous basis.
The platform, which is now being piloted, also includes a cargo tracking module for monitoring the movement of cargo along the main road corridors and transit routes in the Region linked to the Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports.
ISCOS’, who’s Secretariat is based in Mombasa, Kenya, has as its main objective to serve as one stop Center of Excellence for regional Maritime matters and total logistics, and to ensure that the region is served by adequate and competitive shipping services through coherent and regionally coordinated programmes.
