Customs & compliance
Mombasa Port transit cargo to South Sudan: the timeline
Berth to border, stage by stage, and which stages are under your control.
Before the vessel arrives
The manifest is filed ahead of arrival. Under the Single Customs Territory arrangement, KRA describes manifests arriving before the vessel and being transmitted to the other revenue authorities, with the declaration then lodged against that manifest data.
Under your control: having the bill of lading, the document set and the consignee registration ready so the entry can be lodged the moment the manifest is available. Every day you're not ready is a day on both free time clocks.
Discharge and the start of the clocks
The container is discharged. Two free periods begin: the port's free storage period and the shipping line's free days.
Under your control: nothing, from here. This is why the preparation above matters.
Transit declaration
The consignment is declared for transit rather than for home use in Kenya, with the movement covered by a bond or regional guarantee and monitored by electronic cargo tracking.
Under your control: appointing an agent with sufficient bond capacity, and giving them complete documents.
Delivery order
The line releases the delivery order once its freight and charges are settled and the container deposit is paid.
Under your control: having funds available. Lines do not release against a promise, and a payment that takes three days to clear costs three days on both clocks.
Port charges and release
Shore handling, wharfage and any accrued storage are settled according to the published KPA tariff, which applies a different scale to transit containers than to domestic ones.
Collection
The container is collected from the terminal. Seal numbers are checked and recorded.
Under your control: having transport booked before release rather than after. Booking a truck on the day of release adds a day.
The road leg
Mombasa, Nairobi, Malaba, Kampala, Gulu, Nimule, all under cargo tracking.
Largely outside your control: border queues, traffic volume and road conditions. Ugandan transit procedures apply on the Uganda leg, with exit at Elegu.
Border exit and discharge
The exit is recorded, which allows the transit procedure to be discharged and the bond released.
Under your control: chasing the discharge, and keeping the documentation. An undischarged bond is an open liability.
South Sudan entry
The declaration, classification, valuation, assessment and release.
Where the time actually goes
Shippers tend to picture the road leg as the long part. In practice, on a well prepared shipment it is the predictable part. The variable stages are the ones involving documents: lodging the entry, releasing the delivery order, and clearing at destination.
That is the argument for doing the preparation before the vessel berths rather than after.
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