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Welcome to SCEA

Welcome to Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA) website. We are a business membership organization that represents the interests of importers and exporters in Kenya and the Eastern Africa Region. It provides a platform to articulate their concerns and demands to service providers and government regulatory institutions.

 

The establishment of SCEA is informed by demand from shippers and logistics providers to harness and consolidate efforts of finding to numerous capacity challenges and in-efficiencies in logistics especially in the ports of entry and exit in the Northern and Central corridors.

The cost of moving goods across borders has become increasingly important since countries can easily price themselves out of global markets due to the high costs of moving goods.

 

SCEA's key mandate is to advocate for appropriate freight transport legislation and policies that will spur an efficient and cost effective transport and logistics system. This is done through evidence-based advocacy and representation primarily informed by the East Africa Logistics Performance Survey,an annual publication of the Council that examines the costs, times and complexity aspects of the East African logistics chain.The 2015 survey marks the fourth edition.


Our role as SCEA

Quality logistics services play an important role in facilitating the transportation of domestic, regional and international goods. Inefficiencies impede trade by imposing extra costs in terms of time and money while efficient logistics increase the competitiveness of a country's exports by reducing the cost involved in transporting goods – especially for countries that are disadvantaged by distance from major markets. As developed nations shift from traditional manufacturing and agriculture and become increasingly involved in international vertical specialization, the need for efficient logistics services becomes more important.

 

The indicators include time, surface transport, border crossings, air transport, cost and complexity. There was general improvement in the overall logistics performance in 2015 compared to 2014 save for Tanzania and Burundi that indicated a slip in their average scores of 2.77 and 2.25 respectively in 2015 against to 2.89 and 2.78 in 2014.

 

It was established that there has been no significant change in airfreight rates in 2015 compared to 2014. A drop in the import rates from Asia Pacific from an average of USD 5/kg to USD 4/kg seems to be the most significant. Rail transport has not substantially been exploited due to very slow and previously non-existent infrastructural development.

 

Compliance levels by shippers and transporters have not shown great improvement thereby inviting thorough and stringent checks at weighbridges and police check-points. Dwell times observed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport are mainly attributed to security checks, the levels of preparedness by shippers, and the qualityof logistics services.

 

Overall, Rwanda performed better than other economies and ranked at position 1 in 2015 with a score of 3.66 compared to 3.52 in 2014. Burundi is 5th with a score of 2.25 in 2015 against 2.78 in 2014 with the on-going political unrest contributing to the dismal perception of its performance. Kenya stands at position 3 with a score of 3.07 in 2015 against 2.82 in 2014. Tanzania slipped from position 3 in 2014 to position 4 in 2015 with scores of 2.77 and 2.89 respectively.

 

The survey proposes recommendations that could enhance the competitiveness of trade and logistics performance within the EAC partner states. Public-private partnerships are highly endorsed in advancing not only infrastructural agenda, but also the quality of logistics services.

 

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