KRA hands cargo tracking to private e-seal vendors from October 26

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Importers, exporters and transporters have just over a week to sign up with a private cargo-tracking provider after the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) said its own electronic seals for dry cargo and motor vehicles will stop working on October 26.

In a public notice dated October 16 and signed by the Commissioner for Customs and Border Control, the taxman said it will roll out the Multi-Vendor User-Owned Framework of the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) from that date.

“The electronic seals presently owned by KRA under RECTS for tagging on Dry Cargo and Motor vehicle units shall cease to be in operation with effect from the 26th October, 2026,” the notice says.

After the cut-off, goods under customs control will be monitored “exclusively by means of devices supplied by the approved Vendors,” according to KRA. The fuel seals the authority uses to track wet cargo such as petroleum products are not affected on the same date. KRA said those e-fuel seals “shall be progressively phased out,” without giving a timeline.

Who pays and who chooses

The change moves cargo tracking from a State-run service to a commercial one. “This Framework shall be based on private commercial agreement between the approved Vendors and users. Users are at liberty to select any of the approved Vendors,” the notice says.

The notice is addressed to importers, exporters, clearing and forwarding agents, transporters, bonded warehouse operators and partner states. It does not set out what the private seals will cost, which will now depend on each contract between a vendor and its client.

KRA approved 15 vendors in an earlier notice published on September 11. A schedule on its website lists them as Autotronix Telematics, Bandika IoT, I-Spy Africa, a Keshi Holdings and Leavitt Holdings joint venture, K-Trac Telematics, Letztalk Technologies, Nebsam Digital Solutions (K), Oak and Gold, Quartix Telematics, Radar Telematics, Rivercross Tracking, Safetrac, Savannah Springs Technology, a Smart Watch Solutions and PIS joint venture, and Track and Trace.

In the September notice, KRA said the multi-vendor model “is intended to support the port decongestion initiatives as well as democratise access to the seals.” At that time it said its own seals would be “gradually phased out upto 26th October 2026.”

Months in the making

The plan was first put to the public earlier this year. In a consultation notice, KRA described RECTS as a web-based tracking system linked to customs management systems across the East African Community, under which export and transit cargo moving through Kenya is fitted with electronic seals and monitored centrally.

The authority said then that the new model was meant to address “existing challenges such as seal availability and turnaround times.” It held a virtual sensitisation and public engagement meeting on February 4, 2026, and invited written comments from the public and seal vendors.

The Star reported that businesses affected by the switch will need to make arrangements with approved providers before the October 26 deadline to avoid disruptions to cargo monitoring and clearance.

KRA said the list of approved vendors is available on its website, by email at cmu@kra.go.ke, at the Cargo Monitoring Unit on the 13th floor of Times Tower in Nairobi, and at other customs offices.

The tracking system is used to follow goods under customs control, including consignments crossing borders and moving along designated transit routes, The Star noted. Its report also pointed out that the October 16 notice itself did not say how many companies had been cleared, although the September list names 15.

Tuko described the shift as moving cargo tracking from a government-owned model to a user-owned, commercially driven one, with the stated aim of widening vendor participation and giving users more control over their tracking arrangements.