EAC needs electronic cargo tracking system, says WB

By John Oyuke

The implementation of a region-wide electronic cargo tracking system will speed trade in East African Community (EAC), a new World Bank study says.

The ‘Doing Business in the East African Community 2010’ study says escorting special transit cargo such as oil leads to long delays.

It says sometimes truckers travelling within EAC countries wait for at least two days before an escort from customs is ready to accompany a convoy to the border.

The study gave an example of Jordan, a major transit country for goods going to the Middle East and North Africa, where the use of convoy escorts led to long delays and high trading costs.

It says in the Jordan case, a new practice of placing electronic seals and tracking devices on transit trucks eliminated the need to wait for an official escorts.

Now the very trucks can leave immediately and any deviation of the truck from the official route can be detected by customs enforcement patrols, it adds.

"If implemented in East Africa, this transit system would eliminate the need for roadblocks on transit routes and save time for truckers," says the report.

Special transit cargo such as oil often have to be escorted in convoys to avoid diversions.

Transit time

The report released in Nairobi on Monday says truckers travelling in East Africa encounter an average of 19 road blocks per trip, adding five hours to the transit time.

The bank adds that though Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are working to establish electronic cargo tracking systems, it is important that these systems are well co-ordinated to achieve maximum impact.

According to the report, part of the EAC Investment Climate Programme, East Africa lags behind other sub-regions, globally and within Sub-Saharan Africa.

Compared with traders in West Africa, those in East Africa pay $1,000 (Sh79,000) more for each export shipment on average and face an extra week in delays.