Private sector agencies involved in transit cargo in the East African Community (EAC) region have signed a joint memoranda urging the regional governments to adopt a raft of measures to ensure seamless flow of the cargo that protects spread of Covid 19 in a manner that will safeguard business interests.
They offered a number of resolutions after a virtual joint meeting that was held last week by the regional transport and freight players on containing the spread of Covid 19 among the truck drivers who in the recent past have emerged as a weak link.
The Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) and its member National Associations participated in the meeting. Other participants included the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA), Tanzania Truck Owners Association (TATOA), the Transporters Association of Tanzania (TAT) and the Regional Lorry Drivers and Transporters Association (RLTDA).
The meeting noted with concern the increasing number of Covid19 cases across the region involving road cargo transporters and the threat it poses to the success the EAC region was beginning to witness in the fight against the spread of the virus.
“The meeting particularly acknowledged the continued engagement among Partner State governments at different levels to harmonize positions and approaches to containing the spread of the virus by truck drivers,” the memoranda signed by the five agencies reads in part.
It added: “There were still challenges in some of the Partner States where some of the unfriendly measures were still in use despite the plea of the road transport and freight forwarding industry regarding the measures.”
The meeting urged the EAC to adopt a regional private sector led Journey Management System (JMS) as has been proposed by the private sector, saying that this has strong potential to address most of the risks associated with cross border movement of essential products by road without dehumanizing the truck drivers. FEAFFA should take lead in the customization of the system.
They also recommended engagement between key government and private owned trade facilitation agencies and institutions to cushion the freight logistics industry against the effects of covid19 through waiver of additional fees, charges and penalties incurred/imposed as a results of the measures put in place by different governments to contain spread of the covid19.
The team made an appeal to governments to temporarily suspend the ban of movement of imported used cars to assist in decongesting CFSs and create space for arrival pf new vessels. A covid19 conscious mechanism for the movement and return of the drivers involved will need to be agreed upon by the governments and the stakeholders involved.
“Collaboration between the freight forwarders under the regional federation, FEAFFA, and the transporters associations across the region should be upheld when dealing with any issues regarding movement of cargo across the EAC partner state borders,” they offered.
All transporters associations will take lead in ensuring all their members comply with the regionally adopted mechanism of testing truck drivers at the start of their journeys as a way of combating spread of the virus across borders in the process of moving cargo.
They also proposed designation of Naivasha Inland Container Depot as the cargo hub for the land linked countries Northern Corridor countries of Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) be made optional to enable the private sector to decide based on purely business considerations.
“The EAC regional road transport and freight forwarding industry to continue making itself available to governments and other stakeholders to provide expert advice on containing the spread of Covid19 by truck drivers,” the memoranda concluded.
For any feedback, contacts us via editorial@feaffa.com / freightlogistics@feaffa.com /info@feaffa.com; Mobile: +254703971679 / +254733780240
