Causes of Import Cargo Clearance Inefficiency in Ethiopia: The Case of Modjo dry port
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Date
2020-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Ethiopia is a landlocked country that depends on neighboring countries for all its import
and export trade. Djibouti port is one of the major entry and exit of the internationally
traded goods. In order to facilitate the international trade, the Ethiopian government has
embarked on developing dry ports in the hinterland. Modjo dry port is one of these dry
ports and accommodates the majority of imports to the country. This effort of expanding
the dry port can be taken as an encouraging step towards facilitating trade, but assessing
and improving the service providing process is crucial. Some reports indicated that the
cargo clearance process within the dry port is impacted by different obstacles and led to
an inefficient cargo clearance system. This study aimed at assessing the causes of import
cargo inefficiency in Ethiopia, the case of Modjo dry port. The objective of the study is to
assess the reasons for cargo clearance procedural inefficiency of Modjo dry port and
employed an explanatory method and used a qualitative research approach. Primary data
were collected by distributing 95 survey questionnaires and 83 questionnaires responded,
which means 87 percent successfully returned back. The collected data were first
described by descriptive statistics and further analyzed using inferential statistics and also
employed a regression models. The result of the findings specifically related to the
document requirement, traceability of cargoes, border clearance time, application of risk
management, and coordination of border agency; which are the major causes of import
cargo clearance inefficiency in Modjo dry port. These showed that importers incurred
unnecessary costs and cargo delay. Some of these problems should be solved by the
Ethiopian Customs Commission and others in conjunction with the Ethiopian Maritime
Affairs Authority to accommodate the function of all operations at the dry port.
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Keywords
Dry port, import, transit procedure, clearance procedure, operators