Traders based in Kigali, Bujumbura and Goma pay less to move goods from the port of Dar through Tanzania’s Central Corridor than from Mombasa Port through Kenya’s Northern Corridor, a new survey shows.
It costs Sh422,400 ($4,800) to transport a standard 40 foot container cargo through the Northern Corridor to Kigali, Sh572,000 to Bujumbura and Sh616,000 to Goma from Mombasa Port.
The same container transported through Dar would cost Sh378,400 to Kigali, Sh396,000 to Bujumbura and Sh413,000 to Goma, a survey conducted by the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa indicates.
The survey to be launched in Nairobi Thursday also shows that that rail transport costs per kilometre for a standard twenty foot container (TEU) is Sh108 if handled by Tanzania/Zambia Railways Authority network and Sh234 by the Kenya/Uganda network.
“It is, therefore, clear that Tanzanian shippers pay three times less freight charges for railway services than their Kenyan counterparts,” the survey says.
Traders in Kampala and Juba, however, find it cheaper to move goods from Mombasa through the Northern Corridor than Tanzania’s Central Corridor.