Kenya straddles one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, with the Lamu Port and the Port of Mombasa serving as East Africa’s undisputed maritime gateway. Billions of shillings in cargo pass through our waters each year.
However, the Merchant Shipping Levy—a modest but vital charge on imported goods and sea-bound exports—remains a severely underutilized lever for national development.
Collected efficiently by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on behalf of the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), this levy is a dedicated, ring-fenced revenue stream drawn directly from the industry it regulates.
It is time to harness it strategically—not merely for administration, but to fund maritime education and training institutions, the Kenya Seafarers Wages Council, the National Merchant Navy Training Board, seafarers’ welfare agencies, and targeted training programs for instructors, lecturers, and dons across both public and private maritime institutions.
Originally known as the MSS Levy, the Merchant Shipping Levy was designed to enable KMA’s core mandate: maritime safety, environmental protection, efficient port operations, and compliance with the Merchant Shipping Act 2009.
Collections have grown, and transparency has improved. Crucially, this is not general taxation—it is a user-pays contribution from the maritime sector itself.
Dedicating a significant portion of these funds to human capital development would create a virtuous cycle: stronger seafarers, better educators, and modernized institutions would enhance safety and efficiency, attract more investment, boost trade, and ultimately grow the levy base. Kenya’s Blue Economy ambitions demand nothing less than this forward-looking approach.
Investing in maritime training: Kenya has approved maritime training institutions, notably Bandari Maritime Academy. Yet systemic gaps persist: inadequate simulators, limited sea-time opportunities for cadets, outdated equipment, and chronic underfunding.
Allocating levy funds here would modernize facilities, support a dedicated training vessel, expand scholarships, and forge global partnerships. A well-funded training ecosystem would produce competent officers and ratings ready for international fleets.
Supporting the Seafarers’ Wages Council: The Seafarers Wages Council needs resources for monitoring, dispute resolution, data collection, and enforcement. Levy support would empower it to uphold fair remuneration aligned with the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006—making Kenyan seafarers more competitive globally.
Creating a National Merchant Navy Training Board: A dedicated Merchant Navy Training Board would coordinate standards, curriculum development, certification, and industry alignment. Levy funding could operationalize this body, ensuring strategic oversight and positioning Kenya as a regional maritime training hub.
Supporting Seafarers Welfare Agencies: Welfare agencies provide counseling, repatriation, medical aid, and family support. Ring-fencing a portion of the levy would establish sustainable welfare programs, uphold Kenya’s international obligations, and improve workforce retention.
Funding training for instructors, lecturers, and dons: A critical but often overlooked bottleneck in Kenya’s maritime education is the quality and capacity of its trainers. Institutions like Bandari Maritime Academy face a persistent shortage of qualified full-time lecturers and rely heavily on part-time instructors.
Many educators need upskilling to deliver advanced simulator-based training, updated STCW-compliant curricula, green shipping technologies, digital tools, and modern pedagogies that meet evolving international standards.
Levy-funded Training of Trainers (ToT) programs—both domestic and international—would address this directly. Resources could support regular workshops (building on successful IMO‑supported simulator instructor courses hosted in Mombasa), advanced certifications, industry secondments for lecturers, partnerships with global maritime universities, and incentives to attract and retain top academic talent across public and private MET institutions.
Well-trained instructors elevate the entire system: they produce better-prepared cadets who require less remedial training at sea, improve pass rates for Certificates of Competency, and enhance Kenya’s reputation as a credible maritime education provider. This investment compounds—stronger faculty leads to higher-quality graduates, safer shipping, and growing demand for Kenyan-trained professionals.
The case for strategic allocation
Critics may argue the levy should remain solely for regulatory oversight. Yet KMA’s own strategic plans already emphasize maritime education and training.
Ring-fencing a substantial share—for example, 40–60 percent, with transparent governance and multi-stakeholder oversight—would amplify core functions through stronger human capital. This aligns with Blue Economy policy, creates high-value youth employment, earns foreign exchange, builds resilience, and promotes gender inclusion.
Kenya cannot claim maritime leadership while its seafarers, training infrastructure, and educators lag behind. Policymakers, KMA, the National Treasury, and Parliament must prioritize transparent guidelines for levy utilization, with annual audited reports and input from shipping lines, unions, training institutions, welfare groups, and private MET providers.
The Merchant Shipping Levy is already flowing from our ports. The question is not whether we collect it—but whether we let it fund only incremental regulation, or transform it into fuel for a thriving, skilled, and prosperous maritime nation.
Investing comprehensively in our people—from cadets to captains, and the lecturers who shape them—is the surest way to secure Kenya’s place on the global blue map. The tide is with us. It is time to set sail.