A customs system unveiled at the Namanga border crossing in June left trucks waiting for hours and added an estimated KSh 5.8 billion (about €39 million) to trade costs over five months, according to a study published on Tuesday. The research, by the East African Freight Observatory, says the botched opening damaged a vital route for food and industrial supplies between Kenya and Tanzania.
The system, called JiraniPass, was meant to let drivers submit cargo details once for clearance by both countries. At its 4 June launch, it rejected a Tanzanian manifest format and assigned duplicate numbers to some trailers. Customs officers switched to paper processing; the queue on the Kenyan side reached 6.4 km (4 miles), researchers say.
Four hours without clearance
The observatory’s 86-page report draws on freight records, trader invoices and weekly wholesale-price checks in six towns. Its authors estimate that shipments took an average of 14 hours longer to clear during the first three weeks after launch. The delay later eased, but the report says repeated data mismatches continued to divert smaller loads to longer routes.
Lead researcher Eduardo Gonçalves said the estimated costs include extra fuel, storage, financing and goods that lost value while waiting. The study found that wholesale prices for tomatoes and maize meal rose by as much as 8% in towns it tracked, though it cautions that weather and seasonal supply also played a part. “The opening failed at the point where a digital promise met a paper border,” Gonçalves said.
For a small trader, one day lost at the border can erase the profit on a week’s goods.
Anamarija Nikolić, produce wholesaler
Nikolić, who buys produce for shops on both sides of the crossing, told researchers she rerouted two loads through a busier, more distant post after her first shipment stalled. That added fuel and handling charges, she said. The study found that 17% of small consignments in its sample were diverted, while larger freight operators were more likely to absorb delays by rescheduling deliveries.
Costs reach factories and shops
The price effects may extend beyond fresh produce. Mavuno Rubber Works, a Kenyan tyre-materials manufacturer, told the researchers that late deliveries of imported inputs forced it to buy smaller quantities at higher transport rates. The report estimates the launch-related disruption added between 2% and 4% to freight costs for certain factory inputs, but does not calculate how much those costs reached consumers.
Kenyan and Tanzanian customs officials say they have since introduced a shared manual code list and a daily reconciliation call. A joint technical review is expected to report by 30 November. Fabio Riedler, a deputy director in Kenya’s customs administration, said the system was still being corrected and that officers had been instructed to keep paper clearance available when electronic checks failed.
The report warns that border delays can weigh especially heavily on small traders, who have less room to store goods or negotiate freight rates. It recommends testing future systems with live shipments before public launches, and publishing weekly figures on clearance times. Researchers say they will repeat their price checks in January to see whether the cost increases have persisted.
