By Felix Ochieng Akech

Severe shipping queues at Mombasa are now holding mango consignments for up to ten days, slowing exports across the main mango-growing region and leaving small exporters struggling to keep their businesses alive. Exporters say the delays this season are far worse than last year, even as regulators introduce stricter fruit-fly thresholds and new documentation requirements.

Embu exporter Kelvin Lusweti said the shipping delays had become the biggest threat to the mango trade. “People think exporting mangoes is glamorous. They don’t know one delay can wipe everything. Most exporters are not quitting because of poor yields, they are quitting because of the system,” he said.

Kelvin said cargo queues this season had doubled. “Last year, the issue was fruit flies, but at least you could find space in three to four days. This season I’m waiting seven to ten days,” he said. “Fruit flies I can manage but cargo delays I can’t.”

He said he had not stopped exporting completely, but the pace had slowed sharply because he could not get his fruit onto ships in time. Other exporters reported the same trend, with one Makueni trader saying mango volumes from the county had fallen steeply this season as exporters struggled to secure shipping slots.

Kelvin said flowers were being given priority in cargo allocation, leaving fruit exporters with longer waits and rising spoilage risk behind a whole row of factors. “Cargo space was cut, freight charges went up, and inspection delays became normal. I had a client in Qatar who cancelled after two spoiled deliveries. We are exporting less, earning less, and working more,” he said. “The buyer said the fruits arrived soft. I lost money, relationships, and confidence in one week.”

On top of the shipping queues, exporters are now facing tighter enforcement of fruit-fly thresholds. Kelvin said that although fruit-fly rules existed last season, enforcement had intensified. Exporters must now provide mandatory proof of orchard fruit-fly management, and packhouse rejections had risen. “Fruit fly compliance is the biggest barrier. You can have traps, you can spray, you can do everything right –  they will still say the count is high,” he said.

He said some markets had also introduced hot-water treatment requirements, adding more delays on top of the shipping congestion. He said the KEPHIS fee being charged was the standard fee for inspection at the packhouse and issuing of the certificate.

For small exporters, the new enforcement layers are landing on top of an already difficult registration system. The process that Kelvin went through when he began exporting in 2020 took him three months, rather than the official 21 days, and involved repeated visits to different offices.

To be recognised as an exporter, he had to assemble a long list of documents: certificate of origin, orchard inspection report, packhouse hygiene certificate, KEPHIS phytosanitary certificate, bank statement, and KRA tax compliance certificate. But he said the paperwork itself was not the hardest part. “Eeh, my friend, that process is not for the faint hearted. I went back four times. Every desk has its own ‘requirements.’ Honestly, I spent more money on fares and photocopying than I earned in my first export,” he said.

Kelvin also encountered requests for unofficial payments. “Officially orchard inspection is free. Unofficially, you will wait two months unless you lubricate the journey. One inspector told me, ‘If you want it this week, you know how we do things.’ I had to give Sh2,000,” he said.

When inspectors finally visited his farm, he was told to increase fruit-fly traps –  a requirement he later realised applied to nearly everyone but had not been informed on. He bought 20 extra traps for Sh6,000, but was still told the fruit fly numbers were too high.

Once he completed registration, Kelvin struggled again during his first export season. At the packhouse 30 per cent of his mangoes were rejected for bruises and resin leakage. Then a two-day shipping delay due to congestion ruined his consignment to Dubai, and the fruit and sale were ruined.

Kelvin said exporting a tonne of mangoes cost him about Sh140,000 before any losses, including Sh12,000 to transport fruit to the packhouse, Sh18,000 for sorting and packing, Sh5,000 for KEPHIS inspection, Sh14,000 for packaging materials, and about Sh95,000 for freight. None of this covered additional losses, rejections, or orchard management costs.

This season, he said the combined effect of congestion at the port, rising freight rates, stricter fruit-fly checks, and new documentation rules had pushed small exporters to the brink. “Delays and unpredictable requirements,” he said, were killing the trade. “You can do everything right – orchard management, packhouse hygiene, proper documentation – but paperwork and inspection delays can block you.”

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He said the sector could recover if the system stabilised, with clear requirements, predictable inspections, and an end to unofficial payments. “If they just gave us a stable system, mango exporters would thrive. Farmers are willing to work – we just need a fair playing field,” he said.

“Exporting mangoes is a gamble. A beautiful gamble. But right now we are gambling against the system, not the market. If things remain like this, the small exporters will disappear.”

Kelvin said he remained hopeful that the industry could be rebuilt, but only if regulators and cargo handlers addressed the delays that were now destroying exporters’ deliveries before they even left the port.