Method & sources
How every figure in this product is arrived at, where it comes from, and — the part that matters most — what it cannot tell you.
Nothing you type is transmitted. Every calculation runs in this browser; every saved result is written to this device's local storage and nowhere else. There are no accounts, no analytics, no cookies and no third-party scripts.
This is enforced rather than promised: the app ships a content security policy that blocks every off-origin request, which is also why it uses no web fonts and no icon CDN. You can verify it in your browser's network tab — after the first load there is nothing to see. Review or erase everything under .
The diagnostic index
Each answer scores 0–4. A domain's maturity is its points over the maximum available on the questions you scored. The Corridor Health Index is the weighted mean of those domains, renormalised over the weight actually covered.
| Domain | Weight | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Customs & clearance | 16% | 4 |
| Fleet & transport | 14% | 4 |
| Port & ICD efficiency | 14% | 4 |
| Cost & margin | 13% | 4 |
| Regulatory & safety | 12% | 4 |
| Documentation | 11% | 4 |
| Corridor & network | 10% | 4 |
| Financial health | 10% | 4 |
Two deliberate choices. Skipping a domain lowers your confidence figure rather than silently lowering your score — an unanswered domain scored zero at full weight would be a made-up number. And options marked “not scored” leave the denominator entirely, so an operator with no bonded warehouse is not given a middling mark for something they do not do.
Benchmarks
9 corridors, struck as at 2 August 2026. Every band carries its derivation, its payload assumption and its provenance, shown on screen next to the figure. Three provenance levels are used:
- Published tariff — taken directly from an operator's published rate.
- Derived — computed from published guidance, with the arithmetic stated.
- Contributed — median of opt-in user submissions. None yet.
Duty & levies
Assessed in KRA's published order: customs value (CIF) → import duty at the EAC Common External Tariff band → excise on CIF plus duty → VAT at 16% of CIF plus duty plus excise → Import Declaration Fee at 2.5% of CIF → Railway Development Levy at 2% of CIF.
IDF and RDL are treated by default as levies outside the VAT base. That follows the published order of assessment, but practice varies by commodity and by how an agent lodges the entry, so the calculator exposes it as a switch rather than hiding the judgement inside a constant. Always reconcile against your actual entry.
Regulatory register — 12 instruments
Status is computed from today's date against each instrument's effective date — it is never stored. That is deliberate: a hardcoded status is how a product ends up asking whether you are “ready” for an obligation that took effect eight months ago. 10 of 12 are in force today.
| Instrument | Effective | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Advance Cargo Declaration (ACD) KRA Customs & Border Control public notice — Advance Cargo Declaration platform |
3 Aug 2026 | In force |
| Commercial Vehicle Road Licence (CVRL) The National Transport and Safety (Operation of Commercial Vehicles) Regulations, 2026 |
1 Jul 2026 | Annulled |
| Commercial Vehicle Operator Licence (CVOL) The National Transport and Safety (Operation of Commercial Vehicles) Regulations, 2026 |
1 Jul 2026 | Annulled |
| KPA Tariff 2025 Kenya Ports Authority Tariff 2025, published by the KPA Board |
22 Dec 2025 | In force |
| Railway Development Levy at 2% Miscellaneous Fees and Levies Act, 2016 (No. 29 of 2016, Cap. 469C), s.8 |
27 Dec 2024 | In force |
| Import Declaration Fee at 2.5% Miscellaneous Fees and Levies Act, 2016 (No. 29 of 2016, Cap. 469C), s.7 |
1 Jul 2023 | In force |
| Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) The Standards (Verification of Conformity to Standards and Other Applicable Regulations) Order, 2020 |
28 Apr 2020 | In force |
| Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) KRA Commissioner of Customs and Border Control public notice — implementation of the Integrated Customs Management System for cargo clearance |
7 Jul 2019 | In force |
| EAC Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers Act, 2017 East African Community Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers Act, 2017 |
27 Oct 2017 | In force |
| Customs Agent Licence East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004, s.145 |
1 Jan 2005 | In force |
| Bonded Warehouse Licence and CB6 Bond East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004, Part IX |
1 Jan 2005 | In force |
| EAC Customs Management Act, 2004 East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004 |
1 Jan 2005 | In force |
What this cannot do
- It is decision support, not professional advice. It does not replace a licensed customs agent, an advocate or an accountant.
- It is authoritative on Kenyan regulation only. Corridors terminating in Kampala, Kigali or Dar are modelled for cost and transit; the law of those jurisdictions is not covered.
- It cannot see your actual entry, your actual contract or your actual carrier tariff. Every figure is only as good as what you typed.
- Benchmarks decay. Anything older than six months fails the build, but “passing the build” is not the same as “true this week”.
- It does not broker freight, lend, or move money — by design. That is the failure mode that closed most of this sector's first generation of platforms.
19 tools live · register current as at 2 August 2026 · works offline after first load · installable from your browser's menu.