Impact of RFID Technology on Tracking of Export Goods in Kenya

Abstract

In this paper the impact of RFID based tracking to address the challenges of diversion of export goods into the local market in Kenya is discussed. Goods would be moved out of the export factories on pretext that it was destined to foreign markets, however, along the way the goods would be dumped and documents falsified to indicate that goods had left the country, thus evading taxes and gaining unfair advantage. An RFID based In-Transit Visibility system was designed and piloted to address the challenges. The system was used to track export cargo from the factories to the port or frontier offices. The system design, workings and pilot results are discussed in this paper. Results from the pilot demonstrated that RFID based tracking has a great impact on curbing diversion and considerable benefits to transporters and other stakeholders through increased efficiency and reduced turn-around time.