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Kenya's ports entered a new regulatory regime on Monday, August 3, 2026, as the Kenya Revenue Authority's (KRA) Advance Cargo Declaration (ACD) platform became mandatory for all containerized cargo destined for the country. From today, exporters shipping goods to Kenya must obtain a 15 character ACD reference code through acd.kra.go.ke before their containers are loaded at the port of origin, a requirement KRA says will let customs officers screen shipments for risk long before they reach Mombasa or any other entry point.
The rule is the first visible piece of a much larger shift KRA has signalled for its Customs and Border Control department: a move toward the Trade Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP), a blockchain based system built by TradeMark Africa and the IOTA Foundation that is meant to eventually replace the patchwork of separate filings importers currently submit to KRA, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), Port Health Services and the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
What the ACD Requires, Starting Today
KRA first announced the ACD platform in a public notice dated July 14, 2026, describing it as a digital pre-arrival cargo system for all containerized cargo destined for Kenyan ports. To generate an ACD reference code, exporters must upload four documents to the portal: a draft bill of lading, a commercial invoice, a freight invoice and an export declaration. Once KRA validates the submission, the code must be endorsed on the final bill of lading before the vessel departs for Kenya.
The authority has been explicit about the timing pressure this creates. According to KRA's own guidance on the ACD portal, shipping lines, shipowners, carriers and appointed agents are expected to inform shippers of the requirement, request the reference code before issuing the final bill of lading, and ensure the code appears correctly on that document. KRA has said the declaration must be validated at least five days before a vessel arrives in Kenya, and it has warned that cargo arriving without a valid ACD code faces delays, penalties or seizure.
The system affects a wide cross section of the logistics chain: importers, exporters, shipping lines, carriers, shipping and customs agents, and any other party handling containerized cargo bound for Kenya. KRA's Customs and Border Control commissioner, Lilian Nyawanda, has framed the rule as a way to give officers advance visibility into shipments so that customs authorities can carry out risk assessments and flag high risk consignments before they reach Kenyan entry points, which should speed up clearance for compliant cargo, a rationale KRA has repeated across its public communications on the rollout.
The Blockchain Layer: TLIP
The ACD requirement is the entry point into a bigger infrastructure change. KRA has confirmed it will adopt TLIP as part of an upgrade to its Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS), describing it as a blockchain enabled digital trade corridor built to support a paperless supply chain between Kenya and its trading partners. The platform connects clearing agents, logistics providers, and government regulatory agencies within a single digital ecosystem, enabling the secure exchange of trade information across borders.
TLIP itself is not new. TradeMark Africa and the IOTA Foundation began developing the pipeline in 2020, running an early proof of concept on Kenyan flower exports moving from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the Netherlands. That pilot showed how a single digital record, built on IOTA's distributed ledger (the "Tangle"), could replace the roughly half a dozen separate documents and multiple agency signatures normally required to move a shipment of flowers across borders. Data from that pilot phase, cited by the World Economic Forum in mid 2025, pointed to customs clearance times falling from weeks to days and trade costs dropping by as much as 30 percent for Kenyan exporters using the system.
The technical case for using a distributed ledger rather than a conventional database rests on tamper resistance. Once a document or a status update is logged on TLIP, it is time stamped and difficult to alter retroactively, which KRA argues addresses a long standing problem in Kenyan trade documentation: paperwork that gets lost, duplicated or, in some cases, altered after the fact. The system also removes the need for traders to resubmit identical information to multiple agencies that currently run separate digital systems that do not talk to each other.
KRA's broader push toward TLIP was disclosed alongside the authority's announcement that its Customs and Border Control department collected Ksh 988.8 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, a record figure that extended a five year growth streak. The blockchain migration was presented as part of a package of technology investments that also includes an eCustoms mobile application and body worn cameras for customs officers at points of entry, alongside a data sharing agreement KRA recently signed with India's Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on pre arrival information exchange.
KRA and KPA have also agreed to integrate their respective digital systems, an effort officials say is intended to eliminate duplicated procedures between the tax authority and the ports operator specifically, separate from the wider TLIP rollout.
Industry Pushback
Not every stakeholder is convinced the ACD rule, as currently designed, will deliver the efficiency KRA is promising. The Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA), which represents importers, exporters and logistics firms across the region, has publicly opposed the August 3 start date and called for it to be pushed to October instead.
SCEA's core objection is practical rather than principled. Its chief executive, Agayo Ogambi, has argued that the ACD's requirement for a draft bill of lading at the point of loading is often not achievable in practice, since these documents are only available after shipping lines receive the containers. If exporters cannot secure the code before departure, SCEA warns, containers risk missing scheduled vessels or flights altogether, which would raise freight costs and delay production for manufacturers that depend on imported raw materials.
The council has also raised a duplication concern that echoes complaints about Kenya's broader trade documentation environment: it argues the ACD duplicates information already submitted through existing government platforms, including the Import Declaration Form (IDF), cargo manifests, KenTrade and KRA customs systems. That objection sits somewhat uneasily alongside KRA's stated aim, via TLIP, of eliminating exactly this kind of repeated filing, and highlights a gap between the platform's long term architecture and the immediate compliance burden shippers say they now face.
SCEA has also pressed KRA for clarity on any fees associated with the ACD process and has urged the authority to ensure the system integrates cleanly into existing trader workflows before penalties for non compliance are enforced. KRA has not publicly indicated it will delay the rollout, and as of Monday the ACD requirement is in effect for all containerized cargo destined for Kenyan ports.
For now, the ACD code requirement stands alone as a discrete compliance step layered onto Kenya's existing import documentation, rather than a fully integrated part of TLIP. KRA's own communications describe TLIP adoption as a broader, ongoing modernization effort rather than something switching on alongside the ACD this week. Whether the two systems merge into the single, agency spanning digital record KRA has described, or whether traders end up managing the ACD as one more standalone filing on top of the IDF, KenTrade submissions and cargo manifests SCEA has flagged, will depend on how quickly KRA moves to connect the platforms and how it responds to the implementation concerns the shippers' lobby has raised in the lead up to launch.
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