Find Freight, Shipping and Logistics expertise in Uganda

Freight and shipping of goods and cargo takes place to, from and within Uganda via air, land and water.

The European Commission reports that in 2010 the value of Uganda’s imports was €2.5billion; they come mainly from EU and Kenya are typically petroleum products, machinery and transportation equipment. Its exports which consist mainly of coffee and tea to EU and Sudan were worth €1.3billion.

The country is landlocked and relies on the port of Mombasa, Kenya, for its sea transportation needs. There is a small port with a harbour on Port Bell near Kampala which has immigration and customs facilities; in addition there are ports at Entebbe and Jinja. Port Bell is used for international traffic across Lake Victoria. Cargo ships owned by Uganda Railways use Port Bell to cross the lake; the ships carry railway goods wagons to Mwanza Port in Tanzania.

There has been a noted decline in the maintenance and development of the railway network in Uganda over the last 50 years. Rift Valley Railways (RVR) is one of the main providers of rail freight services in the country. They list Logistics Service Providers as their principal customers, followed by Cargo Owners and Shipping Companies. RVR reported a 21% increase in the tonnage of freight moved in the same period from 2010–2011 to 2011–2012. Kenya-Uganda Railways is also an important element in rail freight in the country and in 2011 received a multi-million dollar investment international investors with the aim of reducing transport costs and time in the region. There are 1,244km of railway in Uganda and 70, 746 km of road running throughout the country.

There are several providers of airfreight in Uganda and 46 airports in the country of which 5 are paved.

The Ministry of Works and Transport overseas the maintenance and development of transport infrastructure within the country. One project is to improve inland water transport as strategic sites. The Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry is responsible for developing and promoting trade and industry.

The World Bank Logistics Performance Index (2010) ranks Uganda above the mean score (66^th out of 155 countries) for overall logistics performance in both the sub-Saharan region (2.42) and the low income group (2.38) with a score of 2.82 out of 5.

There are numerous freight and shipping companies in Uganda, including global firms such as TNT, UPS, Fedex and DHL, which provide a range of clearing, forwarding and cargo-handling services. Lead Logistics Uganda is a home-grown firm which provides consultancy, clearing, freight forwarding and logistics services in the country. The Uganda Freight Forwarders Association is the leading sector body.

The World Bank Logistics Performance Index (LPI) scores countries on various aspects involved with shipping and logistics on a scale of one to five with five being the highest. The LPI (2010) ranks Uganda in the top half in terms of customs (44^th), Shipment (60^th), logistics (76^th) and timeliness (60^th) but in the lower half when it comes to infrastructure (89^th) and tracking (114^th) out of 155 countries worldwide.