Shipping containers at Mombasa Port. (Photo: Courtesy).

A Kenyan consultant has warned that President William Ruto’s order to revert all cargo clearance from Naivasha to Mombasa port will inflate the transportation cost on goods destined for South Sudan.

Three months ago, former Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta relocated the clearance office for South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda from Mombasa to Naivasha ‘to minimize the long distance for transporters and ensure quick facilitation of their goods.’

He later allocated land to South Sudan in Naivasha for the construction of a dry port at Naivasha to ease the challenge of space at the Mombasa Port.

The decision followed South Sudan Chamber of Commerce’s plans to transfer business to the Djibouti route, in what would deny Kenya revenue of 1.1 million tons of cargo that the Mombasa facility used to handle annually.

The chamber said, Djibouti was near to South Sudan compared to Mombasa port in Kenya, and the government of Djibouti was willing to strengthen trade ties with South Sudan and Ethiopia.

In his first Presidential address on Tuesday, William Ruto returned the clearance office to Mombasa, canceling his predecessor’s initiative.

He said thousands of people had lost jobs after the government made it mandatory to ferry all goods to Nairobi and other hinterlands through the Standard Gauge Railway.

Reacting to the decision, Denis Mainda Odero who operates a consultancy firm in Mombasa said, South Sudan transporters will now have to pay extra cost to bring their goods to South Sudan.

“We are informed that he (President Ruto) will be in Mombasa today at the port, we are waiting to see what further directives his going to give, and I think we are in a complete precarious situation,” Mainda said while speaking to Eye Radio from Mombasa.

“You know the original plan of transferring those services to either Nairobi or Naivasha was to help you collect your cargo quickly, is going to be expensive because now you have to deal with cargo far away instead of Naivasha or Nairobi, you have to come to Mombasa.”

It is not clear how much expenses the transporters will incur.

In June, the National Chamber of Commerce in South Sudan complained that Uhuru’s policy restricted road transporters to use the railway, half loads while maintaining the previous fees, making it more expensive.

In the same month, South Sudan Freight Forwarders Association also registered its dissatisfaction that South Sudan cargo was being mishandled at the port of Mombasa.

The association said South Sudan-bound cargo was being exploited by cartels in collaboration with the Kenya Ports Authority.

South Sudan governments is yet to comment on the return of previous port policies.