The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • Why Tin Can Port is congested, by Customs

    Why Tin Can Port is congested, by Customs

    The congestion at the Ashaye Terminal of the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos in the past few weeks was caused by cargo build-up, the Customs has said. The problem, it said, would be addressed soon.

    The Customs Area Comptroller, Zakari Jibrin, attributed the build-up to inadequate logistics supply by terminal operator.

    The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, during his tour of the facility, confirmed that the congestion was caused by the inefficiency in cargo transfer mechanism from the terminal to the scanning bay.

    The terminal operator of Tin Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), takes delivery of imported cargoes, which it transfers to the scanning site of the service provider, Cotecna Destination Inspection company.

    While touring the port, the minister, who bemoaned the slow process of cargo transfer, expressed worry at the incessant server breakdown, which compounds the goods clearing process.

    The minister and top officials of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who accompanied him during the fact-finding tour, agreed that the congestion could have largely been avoided if the delays associated with feeding the scanning facilities with containers had been observed.

    They found out that an average of 150-200 containers were being transferred daily, even though the service provider had said that its facilities had the capacity to scan a minimum of 400 boxes per day.

    Umar, who was also informed that the situation was being compounded due to space constraint caused by many empty containers at the terminal, ordered the immediate constitution of a solution-finding committee to be headed by an Executive Director Port and Marine Operations of NPA with representatives from Customs, TICT, NPA, shipping companies, Cotecna, APM terminal, and clearing agents’ bodies.

    Customs Area Comptroller, Zakari Jibrin, said: “We went round the terminal with the minister and the representatives of the service provider and the terminal operators, and we can all see the problem. TICT has a lot of cargo, no space because empty containers have taken over most of the available spaces. Cotecna is waiting to scan, no cargo transfer from TICT because of transportation problem.

    “Cotecna has told us that they can scan up to 400 containers in a day, but they (terminal operator) only make 200 available, sometimes less because the trucks are inadequate.They have not allowed us to test the true capacity of Cotecna by supplying them with that 400 containers so that everybody can see.

    “I can assure you that the problem with TICT is being addressed. They are now to transfer excess containers to off-dock facilities, and we do hope that this will take care of most of the problem.”

    The spokesman of Cotecna, Aminu Mohammed said the capacity of installed scanners at Tin Can Port is grossly underutilised. He explained that the daily capacity of the 9.0 MeV fixed scanner at Tin Can Ashaye is 400 boxes and the mobile scanner at Tin Can RoRo is 360 boxes. The company has only accomplished a daily average of 185 and 108 for the two sites in September.

    As a short term solution to the cargo build-up, Cotecna has commenced collaboration plans with Ports and Cargo terminal company by granting the latter space at the Cotecna Tincan RoRo scanner sites to stack containers close to the equipment with a view to facilitating scanning activities. This step will boost trade facilitation as the terminal is expected to accommodate over 250 TEUs per day positioned and ready for scanning.

  • ‘Customs officers shouldn’t grumble over redeployment’

    Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) have been urged to embrace redeployment whenever it arises as such transfers are carried out in the overall interest of the agency and the country.

    The spokesman of the Customs, Tin Can Command Mr Chris Osunkwo, gave the advice while responding to the alleged protest by some officers of the agency at Tin Can Island Port.

    The Nation gathered that a group of Customs officers protested against the undue transfers of officers of the command. Besides the alleged arbitrary redeployment, the protesting officers said such transfers were done without payment of their allowances.

    The protesting officers said the transfers amounted to punishment, alleging that some officers that have just spent only one year in the Command were transferred without payment of the 28 days allowance, that was to enable them settle down in their new postings.

    One of the protesting officers said the transfers were baseless because the Command didn’t only meet its target, but clearly exceeded it,adding that it is unfortunate that before an officer would be able to settle down, he is separated from his family again in the name of transfer.

    “In August 2013, more than 212 officers and 364 officers were moved from Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, while other commands were not affected in any way,” the officers said.

    When contacted, Osunkwo said: “We have heard that some officers protested, but such officers were faceless, the truth is that there is nothing any knowledgeable officer can say or do about redeployment. The fact is that transfer or movement of officers is a routine exercise usually determined by management.

    “The management does have information at its disposal, which calls for who goes where, when and how. So for any officer to challenge, or grudge over a transfer is not advisable because the best an officer can do about deployment or redeployment is to grudge and that would not change anything because the management knows the reason for the redeployment, and it is always in the overall interest of the Service.”

    He said for, instance, if an Area Controller in Niger State writes to the management that he lacks certain cadres of officers who play very vital role in anti-smuggling operation, what the management will do, is to look for where it has excess of such officers, mop them up and redeploy them. But the officers being redeployed may not be privileged to the information those at the management level have. The officers will grumble only because they don’t know why. The management will not be happy to have any problem anywhere when it can be prevented, he added.

     

  • Ship owners want to participate in crude lifting

    The Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN), now Nigeria Ship Owners Association (NISA), has condemned the inability of the Federal Government to enforce the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act 2003 (Cabotage Act) to enable them participate in crude oil lifting.

    NISA General Secretary, Capt. Niyi Labinjo urged the Federal Government to implement the Cabotage law to give indigenous shipping companies the opportunity to participate in the oil business.

    The country, he said, exports about 2.5 million barrels of oil daily, expressing dismay that indigenous ship owners are not empowered to lift about 1.5 million barrels.

    Labinjo told The Nation that the banks are willing to give them loan if the government can give them appreciable volume to lift. He cited Brazil where the government approved about 700 agencies, which issued certificate of compliance on local content.

    He said about five years ago, the government trained 200 cadets under the National Seafarers Development Programme, but regretted that since there were not enough shipping companies to work for, most of the cadets have been jobless.

    He advised the government to provide enough funds for the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, to enable the academy produce qualified workers.

    He sought proper compliance with Nigerian Content Act and encouragement of the association to participate fully in the Cabotage regime.

    He said: “We will continue to prevail on the government. We’ll continue to make our views known about the need for proper compliance with Cabotage; about the need for proper compliance with the Nigerian Content Act.

    “If we have a government that insists that out of the 2.5 million barrels of oil that Nigeria exports, 1.5 million barrels would be carried by Nigerian vessel by allocating 1.5 million barrels to the association to carry, we will gladly go to the bank to borrow money to do it.”

    “So our expectation is that the government will say, this year, let members of the association carry one million barrels and hopefully by next year, increase it 1.5 million barrels.

    “That is what happened in the case of Brazil. Their government insists that firms must use local content and the government approved about 700 agencies, which issued certificate of compliance on local content.

     

  • How to decongest ports, by freight forwarders

    How to decongest ports, by freight forwarders

    How can the ports be decongested? It is by directing, regulating and advisory agencies to scale up the implementation of sanctions against erring port users, say freight forwarders.

    According to the National Association of Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), the congestion at the ports is artificial and caused by human errors. The congestion, it said, was “largely due” to non-compliance with import guidelines and regulations.

    The founder, Boniface Aniebonam, said the group supported the discretionary measures taken by operators, including the Customs, which has resorted to physical examination of cargoes in the event of equipment failure. He added that whatever can reduce ports congestion in the interim was acceptable pending when the industry gets the scanning and examination equipment right.

    “It is a fact that one of the major problems in our ports’operations is the non-compliant attitude of port users. Nigerian shippers and freight forwarders may be continuously in default of import regulations of Nigeria. In the same vein, government agencies may appear not to have developed the professional and political will to enforce regulations with regard to import guidelines and regulations,” he said, adding that there were clear signs of human element as the cause of problems in our port system, which, in most cases, has resulted in port congestion.

    Aniebonam said corruption was another issue that needed to be tackled, as it appeared that every function was being derailed. He urged relevant government organisations and private sector operators to be discrete in the discharge of their duties in the interest of the nation.

    He said the ports were witnessing artificial congestion because operators could not apply due discretion in their functions, urging that Customs should continue to exercise and apply discretionary powers in risk management technique with regard to inadequate capacity of the installed hydro-scanners. It is obvious that cargo throughput is more than what the scanners could handle and, as such, it shall be a good initiative to re-route cargo to physical examination to facilitate trade, he said.

    Insisting that the measures would reduce congestion at the Apapa and Tin Can ports, he urged the various regulatory agencies to imbibe the concept of corrective measures rather than outright seizure of imported items.

    On low installed capacity, he urged terminal operators to enter into trade agreement with one another to decongest the ports.

    “NAGAFF is of the view that the solution to the various problems in our ports is in people being made to obey and respect our import/export guidelines and regulations, adding that government should be willing to enforce regulations and make the service providers and terminal operators to observe their terms of contract,” Aniebonam said.

  • Firm deploys equipment for scanning

    Firm deploys equipment for scanning

    Ports and Cargo Handling Services Limited (P&CHS), a member of Sifax Group, has deployed one of its 10 new Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) in the scanning area manned by Cotecna.

    The firm’s official, Oliver Omajuwa, said the new installation would enable the terminal to accommodate 400 TEUs daily, aside the 250 TEUs being handled daily at the physical examination bay. He added that the development was a remarkable improvement from the 150 TEUs that were being positioned daily for scanning. The terminal’s extension of working hours to 2200hrs daily made this possible, he said.

    He said with the stationing of the RTG at the scanning area, P&CHS could receive up to 400 TEUs in a day and position same for scanning. Customers no longer line up their trucks for the scanning process. P&CHS now provides the trucks at no extra cost to them, thereby reducing, to the barest minimum, vehicular and human traffic in the scanning area of the terminal.

    Omajuwa said the development has led to increased productivity by avoiding congestion in the terminals, noting that it has not only saved customers huge transportation costs but has also eliminated excess demurrage charges.

  • Dredgers urge govt to enforce regulations

    Dredgers urge govt to enforce regulations

    Stakeholders in the dredging industry have urged the government to be committed to regulations enforcement.

    After a dredging summit in Lagos, they agreed on the actions that should be taken to make the industry a revenue earner.

    The summit agreed that a coastal impact assessment should be conducted before any development is allowed along the shoreline, adding that the government should enforce the regulation of the one-kilometre bar against dredging around bridge piers and other public infrastructure.

    It said there should be increased coastal surveillance to avoid illegal sand mining and other dangerous activities, such as dumping of toxic wastes.

    The government, the stakeholders said, should ensure the inclusion of maintenance dredging as part of public sector contract for capital dredging campaigns around the country, adding that public sector agencies should insist on the inclusion of sand search report in reclamation works to avoid conflicts and losses associated with such issues.

    There should be continuous training and re-training for dredging personnel, and a career growth structure and grading systems established as incentives for better performance, they added.

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Mr Nwabueze Calistus Obi, represented by the Head of Department, Maritime Labour Services, Mrs. Juliana Gunwa, stressed the importance of dredging to the maritime sector and the economy.

    She said: “Dredging is the act of removing sediments or mud from the bottom of the sea or river, canals and channels, among others, to make it wider or to provide the required depth of water, by mechanical or hydraulic techniques. Dredging is used for port developments all over the world and it enhances shipping routes and depth of water for vessels to avoid grounding and accidents.”

    She noted that dredging serves as a big employer of skilled and unskilled workers. It also boosts import and export trades, and is used to shorten navigational distances for ships, thereby saving cost and time for ship owners as in Panama Canal, Kiel Canal and Suez Canal, just to mention a few. Without dredging, this could have been very difficult to achieve, she added.

     

     

     

    Dredging is also used in the development of new mega cities, such as the Lagos Atlantic City, Dubai and other port-related towns and islands around the world. Dredgers control floods and ocean encroachment, pollution and erosion, she said, adding that with dredging it is possible to reclaim more valuable land mass for further economic development.

     

  • Chamber warns on return of congestion at ports

    The nation’s premier seaport in Lagos is said to be heading towards a return to the horrible old days when the entire port was overtaken by ships laden with containers begging to be off-loaded.

    This development, according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), is a fall-out of the government’s decision of replacing Cotecna (the Destination Inspection agent), with an apparently less capable inspection agent. Expressing deep concern over the worsening situation at the Lagos port, the LCCI said the replacement of the service provider was already creating serious capacity gaps in the cargo clearing process.

    According to a report by Hellenicshippingnews, the LCCI has equally expressed the fear that the regime change at the port would lead to what it described as “aggravation of corruption and extortion at the port as importers struggle to clear their cargo through the bottlenecks and risk of exacerbation of inflation, as goods are not quickly cleared from the port to meet relevant needs in the economy thus undermining the supply side of the economy.” Thus, agitated by the possible negative impacts of the change of guards at the port, the LCCI said that the Federal Ministry of Finance owed the nation and stakeholders an explanation for the decision. It noted that already, importers now grapple with the nightmare and inefficiency arising from long delays in scanning of containers, cargo clearing and related activities.

    A critical question stakeholders in the marine business ask is the underlying factors responsible for the decision to replace Cotecna with a new inspection agent. Yet anyone previously used to doing business at the Lagos port, considered to be the potential hub of marine trade in the west coast of Africa, will readily testify to the headache, if not heartache, hitherto experienced by importers at the port.

    Clearing a container used to take anything between two weeks and one month or even more. The presence of all manner of government agencies including the customs, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and tax officials created great disincentive for business with their multiplicity of charges and fees thereby making Nigerian ports less competitive with their peers in the West and Central African sub-regions.

     

     

     

     

    This cumbersome arrangement coupled with high demurrage charges, cost of servicing borrowed money by importers, disruption of production schedules for manufacturers whose imported raw materials were stuck at the port, and the attendant inability of suppliers to meet contractual deadlines took a heavy toll on the economy. Furthermore, this high cost of doing business at the ports was ultimately passed on to consumers by way of high prices. Meanwhile the ports were turned into one organised centre for corruption and chaos. It was in the face of this ugly situation that government intervened in 2006 by ordering all the sundry agencies out of the ports and brought in Cotecna as the Destination Inspection Agent. The government said at the time that it was committed to transforming the ways of doing business at the port with a view to bringing the time limit for clearing cargoes to 48 hours.

     

  • Firm projects higher earnings

    AP. Moller-Maersk Group said it hopes to exceed its projected earnings for the year following good its performance in the second quarter.

    The company posted better-than-expected second-quarter profit, boosted by lower costs in its shipping unit. Second-quarter net profit was $856 million, higher than analysts’ projections of $545.79 million.

    Last year, the company’s net profit was $965 million and revenue was slightly lower than expected at $14.2 billion, down from $15.4 billion in the year earlier.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Nils Andersen, said: “We delivered a good operational result for the second quarter, thanks to improved performance in most of our businesses.

    “Maersk Line has made strong and consistent progress and is now an industry leader in terms of profitability. APM Terminals continue to deliver good results, and Maersk Drilling had its best quarter ever based on strong operational performance. Oil production was relatively low, but it has bottomed out now and will return to growth in the second half of the year.”

    He said the firm is considering the establishment of a fifth core business unit with a target of $0.5 billion by 2016, adding that increased profit was achieved across all businesses, except Maersk Oil and Damco as well as Maersk Tankers, which negatively impacted by impairments and provisions of $280 million related to Very Large Crude Carriers.

  • UN Security Council seeks improved measures against marine piracy

    The United Nations Security Council has called for a com-prehensive regional approach to combat the threat of piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Gulf of Guinea.

    It also reiterated its call on Member States to prosecute perpetrators in accordance with international laws.

    “The Security Council expresses its deep concern at the reported number of incidents and level of violence of acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Gulf of Guinea, in the first half of 2013,” the 15-member body said in a presidential statement.

    The Council also reiterated its deep concern about the threat to international navigation, the security and economic development of states in the region, to the safety and welfare of seafarers and other persons, as well as the safety of commercial maritime routes, caused by the illegal activities off the western coast of Africa.

    It also noted that international law, as reflected in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, sets out the legal framework applicable to activities in the ocean, including countering piracy and armed robbery at sea.

    In the statement, the Council reiterated its calls on States in the region to criminalise piracy and armed robbery at sea under their domestic law, and to prosecute perpetrators, consistent with applicable international law, including international human rights law.

    In addition, it urged the need to investigate and prosecute “anyone who incites or intentionally facilitates such crimes, including key figures of criminal networks involved in piracy who illicitly plan, organise, facilitate, or finance and profit from such attacks.”

    The Council noted that neighbouring governments and regional organisations have taken steps to combat piracy. Most recently, Western African leaders met in June at the Summit of the Gulf of Guinea Heads of State and Government on maritime safety and security in Cameroon to establish an effective framework to combat piracy and armed robbery at sea.

     

     

     

     

    At the Summit, participants adopted the ‘Code of Conduct concerning the Prevention and Repression of Piracy, Armed Robbery against Ships, and Illegal Maritime Activities in West and Central Africa’, which defines the regional maritime security strategy and paves the way for a legally binding instrument. The Council welcomed this move and encouraged the regional members to sign and implement the Code “as soon as possible.”

    The Council also welcomed recent regional efforts between the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC).

    These include a plan to establish an inter-regional centre in Cameroon responsible for coordinating the implementation of the regional strategy for maritime safety and security.

     

  • Terminal operator gets 30-day ultimatum

    THE Federal Government has read the riot act to terminal

    operators. It gave APM Terminal a 30-day ultimatum to finetune its operations and warned others to stop treating port users shabbily.

    The warning followed the importers’complaints of poor handling of cargo clearing by the operators.

    Speaking during a visit to the APMT and Tin Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), Apapa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Maritime Issues, Mr Oyewole Leke, expressed shock over the idle scanning machines at the terminal.

    Leke noted inadequate equipment as the biggest challenge facing both the TICT and APMT. He said: “APMT is similar to TICT in terms of the issues, mainly the equipment is not adequate. They do not have enough equipment to position cargo for inspection, no adequate equipment to move cargoes for scanning. It surprised me to find out that scanners are virtually idle. It is not the fault of the people working there, it is not the fault of the Customs officers it is the fault of terminal operators.

    “In the cause of the tour of Tin Can, we did not see anybody move trucks to go and scan and they have lot of things waiting to be scanned, that is contrary to what we thought is happening at the port.”

    On APMT, he said: “The 30-day ultimatum became imperative as a result of the fact that Ministers have met and had agreement with them; and all they promised to do, until now they have done none. If they cannot honour the Ministers, how can they honour somebody like me. However, I’m taking this to the President.

    “APMT cannot be bigger than Nigeria and the totality of the concessionaires cannot be bigger than Nigeria. We have the masses to protect; it is not their wish, it is not what they desire but it is what Nigerians want.”

    Stakeholders, who participated in the tour, including players in the maritime industry, urged terminal operators to put their house in order by reinforcing their operational tools and human capital.

    All the stakeholders, including truck owners, shipping agents and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said the terminal operators should ensure that they come up with a strategy to evacuate goods and return empty containers, without hindrance to free flow of traffic.

    The participants promised to come up with their position within 48 hours, which, according to Leke, would be incorporated into the President’s report for further consideration.

     

     

    They urged operators to provide a holding bay, and recommended that the President should direct the NPA to enforce its agreement with the shipping company.

    “Should any of them default, henceforth, services should be suspended for such shipping company,” they said.