Kagame, Uhuru pledge seamless flow of goods from Mombasa port
Saturday February 05 2022
The government of Rwanda says trucks and returning residents can cross into country through the Gatuna border post like any other border points, as long a they observe EAC Covid-19 protocols. PHOTO | FILE
Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta have agreed to ensure a smooth flow of goods between their borders, after a key route was reopened on January 31.
The commitment which came days after the Gatuna-Katuna border crossing between Uganda and Rwanda reopened, may mean an imminent uninterrupted flow of goods from the port of Mombasa from now on.
A dispatch from State House in Nairobi said the two leaders who met in Nairobi on Thursday discussed “a wide range of areas of cooperation between the two countries including trade and transport,” as well as other continental issues.
And President Kenyatta welcomed Rwanda’s move to reopen the Gatuna-Katuna border, saying “it will ease the movement of goods and people between the two neighbouring countries.”
The border point, one of the busiest in the region had been shut in 2019 following a diplomatic tiff between Uganda and Rwanda, forcing transporters to reroute their importation through the Port of Dar es Salaam, which is longer.
Mr Kenyatta says Rwanda should take advantage of improved services at the port of Mombasa to facilitate the movement of goods, having been limited by the closure of the border for the last three years.
The reopening also raised hope of recovery of the logistics sector, as players see reduced costs of transportation which had risen from longer routes and delays.
The closure, in February 2019, over a diplomatic tiff between Kigali and Kampala had rendered the once busy import-export corridor linking the land-locked Rwanda and region to the port of Mombasa impassable.
And shippers to the central corridor, the alternative route to country from the port of Dar es Salaam, have been contending with long transit times and costs when using Mirama Hills crossing.
Local business players told The EastAfrican that costs on both routes were exacerbated by supply bottlenecks linked protocols instituted to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In particular cargo transiting to DR Congo’s Bukavu and other towns were quick to reroute to Gatuna since its reopening because Kagitumba was too long and costly. Many had left to use the Bunagana border, bypassing Rwanda,” a source with a local freight forwarding company told The EastAfrican.
Local business players say a section of shippers using the port of Mombasa were making a comeback to Gatuna/Katuna albeit slowly.
Resurgence
“It could take a bit of time for cargo traffic to resume to pre-closure levels at Gatuna. But it also depends on the port the cargo is coming from because now goods coming from Dar es Salaam can’t think of Gatuna as a short distance,” argued Clement Bukuru, Chairperson of the Rwanda Freight Forwarders.
The head of commerce and services chamber at Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation Joseph Akumuntu, however, says Gatuna is even more strategic for Rwanda because of an arrangement that allowed them to pick up cargo from the Naivasha Inland Container Depot, effectively cutting the distance and costs.
“This makes Gatuna corridor even shorter and cheaper.
‘‘We calculating how much it would save our members in terms of costs and time compared to others corridors,” said Mr Akumuntu who is also a petroleum importer.
The World Bank in its 2021 Rwanda Economic Update released Wednesday indicated that the continued closure of the border with Uganda impaired Rwanda’s potential market for provision of logistic services estimated at 4.2 million tonnes worth of goods either transiting or originating in the country in 2018.
“The closure of the main borders between Uganda and Rwanda for the past two and-a-half years has diverted some traffic from the eastern DRC to the Bunagana border between Uganda and DRC, therefore bypassing Rwanda, which could impair Rwanda’s ability to establish itself as a regional logistics hub,” states the report.
The report indicates that trucks taking goods to Rwanda, Burundi and the DR Congo have been delayed or diverted to the longer Mirama Hills crossing.
“There is evidence that Rwanda has partially redirected these trade flows through Tanzania and DRC,” World Bank said.