Uganda to extend e-cargo tracking system to South Sudan

South Sudan and Uganda agreed to extend the electronic cargo monitoring system to South Sudan after a meeting between South Sudan Revenue Authority (SSRA) Commissioner-General, Africano Mande, and his Ugandan counterpart, John Musinguzi.

According to the East African media, Uganda will extend its electronic cargo tracking system (ECTS) to South Sudan as part of a long-term strategy to curb the diversion, dumping and theft of goods destined for Juba from the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.

The trucking industry in Africa has only a one percent penetration rate in financing.

“Collections from customs have been low, pushing us to make tough decisions. Invesco’s services will help us improve collections,” Mande said, as quoted by The East African.

Mande added that the benchmarking visit to Uganda was meant to learn from the Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) cargo tracking system.

The URA uses the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System to monitor goods in transit and the authority has dedicated teams that monitor the system’s performance and ensure continuous stability along the trade route.

It added that the tax collection through such cooperation between the two nations has increased, with South Sudan now becoming Uganda’s second biggest export destination in East Africa after Kenya.

The report revealed that South Sudan imports more than 1,500,000 metric tonnes of goods through Uganda from the port of Mombasa annually.

Uganda set up the UKAid-funded Electronic Cargo Tracking System in 2014 to mainly curb the diversion of goods in transit and reduce delays and costs of doing business across the Northern Corridor.

Over the years, the system has also helped exporters track the location of their goods online in real-time, reducing corruption and the risks that come with physically escorting cargo to its destination.

In 2017, the cargo tracking system became regional, following its extension to both Kenya and Rwanda in the same year.

Two years later, in 2019, it was extended to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which also has a significant amount of cargo transiting through Uganda.