The government, through the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), has announced that from February this year, all imports will be required to possess Marine Cargo Insurance.

The regulator, in a notice dated Tuesday, January 7, stated that the digitally procured cover must be obtained from a local insurance company.

IRA went ahead to clarify that the new regulation was in line with the amendments of the Marine Insurance Act of 2017 which made it mandatory for people to acquire the Insurance.

According to the Insurance regulator, the amendment also outlawed sourcing marine cargo insurance covers from insurers not locally licensed under the Insurance.

“To ensure full compliance, the public is hereby notified that effective February 14, 2025, all importers shall be required to digitally procure Marine Cargo Insurance cover for their imports from locally licensed insurance companies,” read part of the notice.

While making the announcement, IRA revealed that Kenyans who fail to comply with the demand would not receive a customs clearance certificate from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

An importer will be required to electronically submit the processed digital marine cargo certificate to the KRA Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICMS).

Procedure for Buying a Marine Cargo Insurance Cover 

A Digital Marine Certificate will be issued against an active Import Declaration Form (IDF)

A customer will be required to log into any mobile or online portals and follow the instructions. The available portals include:

• Coral Mini App hosted on the M-PESA Super App

• Coral web-based online portal

• Insurance underwriters' web-based portals

• Insurance Underwriters Mobile Mini Apps hosted on Mpesa.

• Kentrade single window portal

Once a person accesses the portal, the individual shall type their full IDF number into the provided field.

The IDF contains all the necessary details on the imported cargo and the Digital Marine cargo Insurance certificate will be updated with IDF details.

You will be required to fill in the necessary fields for the Digital Marine Cargo Insurance Certificate, pay the respective premiums and submit the digital certificate to the IRA electronic platform.

The IRA Platform, which is integrated into KRA-ICMS, will submit the digital Marine Cargo Insurance Certificate to KRA.

Upon receipt of the Digital Marine Cargo Insurance Certificate, the customer will receive a confirmation of successful receipt and digitization of MCI in compliance with the low

The confirmation and approval of the Digital Marine Cargo Insurance Certificate in ICMS will facilitate the clearance of cargo in the ICMS.