CLIFF ALOZIE-ERONDU
What the stakeholders are calling for now is for the sustenance of the kind of legal structures that encourages proactive involvement by all parties to keep the ports productive. Seven months marathon congestion that prevailed at the Lagos ports is gradually fizzling out, as measures taken by the Federal Government to restore confidence to Nigerian importers appear to have yielded results.
The success of the exercise operators say is due to the agreement between the shipping companies and terminal operators, to suspend and waive certain charges which importers and port users say were criminally motivated to defraud the Nigerian importers.
Although they acted in line with the Federal Government’s directive, freight forwarders explained that with the waivers of the progressive storage charges, by the terminal operators and suspension of some aspect of the Nigeria Customs Service extant law, the so-called faceless importers are beginning to take delivery of their consignments. In other words, when appropriate laws are applied at any given point the impact will be positive. What the stakeholders are calling for now is for the sustenance of the kind of legal structures that encourages proactive involvement by all parties to keep the ports productive, with less bottlenecks and cumbersome clearing process.
The ports need to have a standard fee for the clearance of goods, which should apply to every terminal operator. The Nigerian Ports Authority should ensure that the progressive charges which is imposed on the importers by the terminal operators, are not re-introduced. The Circular 026 of the Nigeria Customs Service, which stipulates stiffer penalties for goods imported without Form M, discrepancies in their declaration, false declaration, should be amended, rather, cargo owners whose consignments fall within the category should be given Debit Note, to go and pay for the under-declared goods. Moreover, government should ensure that the number of goods in the import prohibition list is reduced to enable importers take delivery of their consignments in good time.
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Meanwhile, the assistant general manager, corporate affairs of the Nigerian Ports Authority says that over 200 overtime containers have been moved by barges to Onne Port to create more spaces at the ports. The containers other source from the government parastatal said will be auctioned if the consignees refuse to take delivery of their cargoes, within a specified period of time.
However, the number of ships waiting to discharge at the ports which had gone down from 35 in January to nine ships in the early month of April has started going up again. As at mid April, the number of ships waiting to discharge has gradually gone up again from nine to 24 vessels, which importers say, is another task for the Federal Government to maintain its port decongestion action plan.
According to the Nigerian Ports Authority, daily Shipping Position, eight vessels out of the 24 ships are waiting to discharge at the ENL Consortium Limited, two at the APM Terminals, as against 16 vessels recorded in the last two months, while three vessels are at the Josepdam Terminal Limited. Moreover, a vessel each are is waiting at the Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited and Port and Cargo Handling Company, while two others are expected at the Greenview Development of Nigeria as well as three more at the 5-Star Logistics.
Already, 84 ships have been declared to berth at the Lagos ports in the next three weeks, which if the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigeria Customs Service, with other relevant agencies did not work hard to ensure that those waiting are decongested, will eventually led to another round of congestion, even after government’s persistency at ensuring that the port becomes a transit point rather than warehouses.
Nevertheless, the Minister of Transportation, Ibrahim Bio, has assured operators that there is no more congestion at the ports, stressing that his administration will make sure that what the maritime industry is experiencing now does not repeat itself again. The minister explained that he knows everything that is happening at the ports, regretting that the attitude of some importers are capable of destroying the efforts of the present administration, and assured that he will work towards improving port capacity, as well as ensuring that consignees are not short-changed through irrelevant charges by some of the terminal operators.
Although he pointed false declaration as the bane of port congestion, he however admitted that the absence of railways from the ports, has contributed immensely to the problem. He therefore assured that the railway lines will be rehabilitated, while Tin Can Island Port will soon be linked to the rails. But port watchers are of the view that similar promises have been made by past ministers which amounted to nothing, stressing that the ministry should swing into action to address the teething problems at the ports.
While commending the efforts of some agencies, the chairman, sub-committee on Customs Excise and Marine, Adamu Kalba Gora, advised all stakeholders to work harder to put the situation under control, stressing that importers should help the authorities by making correct declaration of goods.
For Matthew Omegara, who is also a member of the sub-committee, he pointed out that there is still the presence of multiple Customs units at the gates, maintaining that though the units are complimentary, efforts will be made to harmonise their functions and ensure that delivery process is not elongated at the ports anymore.
On his part, the managing director of APM Terminals Limited, Michael Hansen, said the company has made some remarkable sacrifice by waiving and suspending some of its charges, which according to him has increased the number of containers coming in and also leaving the ports. The vessel queue according to him started witnessing significant reduction towards the end of February, going down from 16 vessels to only two ships as at today. He maintained that the reduction in cargo dwell time is the only solution to arresting port congestion, insisting that their terminal has the capacity to handle three times what it currently holds if consignees and agents take delivery of their boxes promptly.
Hansen explained that the average time containers sit at the terminal is 28 days, stressing that APM Terminals handle half a million Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) of containers, but the terminal has the capacity to carry up to 1.5 million boxes if dwell time is reduced.
However, the chairman, Shipping Association of Nigeria (SAN), Val Usifoh, observed that the congestion will likely re-surface if drastic measures are not taken to address the issues of corruption and interconnectivity at the ports. According to him, key agencies like the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as well as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, among others are not connected, maintaining that online operation of these organisations are important if the Federal Government wants to reduce the cargo waiting time.
Usifoh emphasised that in a situation where various agencies operate independent of others, it will be another set back to achieving the 48-hours cargo clearance target by the government. The Direct Trader Input (DTI) he said was introduced by government to reduce delays at the ports, but regretting that only a few corporate importers are connected to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) server, which is a far cry to the expectations of the masses. As for Usifoh, who is also the chairman, Port Industry Anti-Corruption Standing Committee (PIACSC), DTI is meant to solve the problem of corruption because it reduces human contact at the ports, but for the Customs to commission only three internet cafes for electronic data transfer shows that the appropriate authorities are not yet ready for the needed change.
He insisted that even with the congestion at the ports, which is as a result of importation of contrabands, it is expected that normal goods should leave the ports within 15 days to create more spaces for the incoming ships to discharge their consignments.
Speaking with BusinessDay, the president, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Amiwero, said a committee set up by the Minister of Transportation, to address decongestion issues at the port, has come up with recommendations that more Inland Container Depots should be developed immediately, while new ports are to be built in the long run. He explained that the Nigeria Customs Service has as well been advised to waive the 20 percent penalty, currently imposed on discrepant containers to allow the importers come forward and take delivery of the remaining containers at the ports.
Amiwero disclosed that the committee has observed that NAFDAC and SON procedures, as well as their fees are posing additional bottlenecks and delays to the clearance of cargo and therefore recommended that the two agencies should develop a fast track approach to inspection to avoid future congestion. According to him, the terminal operators were advised to publish regularly, the list of containers that are due for examination, so as to inform the consignees and their agents when to take their turns.
The freight forwarder moreover insisted that the directive by the Minister of Transportation to the terminal operators and shipping lines to stop collecting service charge, bank charge, turnover charge, concessionaires service charge, tally clerks, port administration charge, International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) Code charge and sorting charge, will not solve much problem if terminal handling charges and shipping line agency fees are addressed.
But for the comptroller general of Customs, Bernard-Shaw Nwadialor, though several factors must have contributed to the congestion, he however believes that importers desire for inaccurate declaration of their goods, a situation which makes it mandatory for Customs to carry out 100 percent physical examination on over 90 percent of containers should be an issue for concern.
He explained that the Nigeria Customs Service has introduced a one stop-shop and e-payment system approach which will guarantee accountability, fraud detection and facilitate smooth clearance of cargo.
