The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • Agents bitter over high examination cost

    IMPORTERS and agents are complaining about the scanning of their cargoes because they are subjected to 100 per cent examination at Tin-can Island Container Terminal (TICT).

    The National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) said the process makes their members pay more for consignments.

    Its National Secretary, Uchu Block, who spoke on behalf of the group, said TICT is worse than other terminals at Tin-Can.

    He noted that most goods scanned there are referred for physical examination resulting in about 10 days further delay.

    He cited what happened to him recently, saying a client imported a 20-foot container of completely knocked down (CKD) suit cases that came in through TICT.

    He said the container was routed for scanning and after it was done, the result showed that there was discrepancy because of the zip and other components of the item.

    He noted that the container spent extra 10 days at the port before physical examination was performed on it while his client had to pay N30,000 more than the duty on the consignment as terminal operator and shipping company charges.

  • Ibaka Seaport will enhance economy, says Akpabio

    Ibaka Seaport will enhance economy, says Akpabio

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has restated his commitment to the Ibaka Deep Seaport project. He expressed the hope that a substantial part of the project would be completed before he leaves office.

    Akpabio spoke at the presentation of an architectural design of the project to him by the Managing Director of China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), Mr Shi Hong Bing and the management team in Abuja.

    Akpabio said he was elated with the Chinese firm’s interest in the maritime industry because, according to him, the Ibaka Deep Seaport represented the future of the industry.

    Akpabio said: “I see a future for Ibaka in the Gulf of Guinea. It will help to decongest existing ports in Nigeria and also make it the attractive destination for shippers. It will become a major trans-shipment destination because of the depth of the water.

    “It will also be of advantage to countries bordering Nigeria along the coastline. Akwa Ibom State has the largest and longest coastline in the country and we are glad that your company is interested in making use of these numerous advantages.”

    Akpabio noted the reception the Chinese government and CCECC gave to President Goodluck Jonathan during his visit to China, saying he was delighted by the cooperation between both countries.

    Bing thanked Akpabio for his confidence in the company and pledged his commitment to maintaining standards in projects in the state.

    He said the Speaker of the Chinese parliament would visit Nigeria from September 18 to 20, adding that he looked forward to using the visit as a platform for the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the project to facilitate the sourcing of funds from financial institutions.

    Bing said: “The first phase of the project is estimated to cost about $3 billion so we need more investors to partner CCECC and Akwa Ibom State government to make the project a reality.”

  • 1,300 containers moved to bonded terminals

    The Customs Area Controller of Apapa Command, Mr Charles Edike, has explained why 1,300 containers were moved to bonded terminals.

    He said the action followed the build up of containers at the AMP Terminal, Apapa, caused by the untidy handover of scanner operations to Globalscan by Cotecna Destination Inspection Limited.

    Edike said the Command had to evacuate excess containers to inland terminals to prevent delays in processing their clearance and the revenue due to the federation account.

    He said the action would help in meeting the N39 billion monthly revenue target of his Command, which he said was paramount.

    Edike, who spoke on Seamless shipping in Nigeria, prospects and challenges, at a forum in Lagos, said he placed premium on the Service target rather than his Command’s, adding that he would strive to meet the Service target.

    He said: “I have N39 billion to collect every month for the Federal Government, but I do not see my target as above that of the service. If I collect N39 billion in the month when the other terminals or commands couldn’t collect theirs, our service wouldn’t be seen as making progress. The Service target is much more important than my target.”

    He said to ensure the target was met, the Command had issued a marching order to operators of AP Moller Terminal that all containers in Apapa should be moved out.

    He said: “Therefore, we told APMT to make sure that all the containers in Apapa are moved out of Apapa. We advised them; we instructed them and we commanded them to move the containers to the inland container depots (ICDs).”

    He said the order has been respected as the Command moved about 1300 containers out of Apapa. He described it as a no mean achievement as no Customs Area Controller before him did that.

  • ‘Corruption, infrastructure deficit bane of Maritime’

    Corruption and infrastructural challenge have been identified as the bane of the shipping and clearing arm of the maritime sector.

    According to the Chief Executive Officer, Best AirCargo and Shipping Services Limited, Mr Jerry Jay, the resolution of these issues would see shipping and clearing making huge contributions to the economy.

    Speaking when he visited the headquarters of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Jay told The Nation that he came home to establish a branch of his company in response to President Goodluck Jonathan’s appeals that Nigerians in the Diaspora should bring home their businesses and expertise to help build the country.

    He, regretted that the government has failed to provide basic infrastructure and tackle corruption.

    “Nigerians in the Diaspora have the expertise, resources and connection that can help develop this country but the country is being strangulated by corruption, policy inconsistency, poor infrastructure and other evils. These discourage them,” he said.

    He said in China, the government builds houses and makes other provisions for its citizens in the Diaspora who were willing to relocate and invest in China while in Nigeria there was no form of encouragement, no matter what you want to do.

    Jay said having stayed in Asia for 16 years, he has gained enough expertise that would enable him bring about a positive change in shipping and cargo clearing in Nigeria, but he was afraid because of too much corruption and infrastructural decay at the ports. He said, there was no port in Nigeria that compares to what is obtained in Asia.

    “In China or Hong Kong, you can have your container released to you in two hours once it arrives the port and this is at a cost equivalent of between N5,000 and N10,000 whereas in our ports, for your container to be released, it takes several days to weeks and costs several hundreds of thousands of naira or more than a million naira in some cases, despite the President’s effort at reformation.

    “In Asia, everything works systematically and you can plan successfully. But here, there are lots of policy somersaults; things are not organised for sustainable growth and most Nigerians in the Diaspora find it difficult to cope with this kind of system after experiencing the best way things are done in other countries,” he said.

    On shipping in Nigeria and Asia, Jay said there was no basis for comparison. “In Nigeria, there is no good equipment at the ports, there is no stability or continuity of policies whereas in Asia, the economy, the currency and every other thing is planned and this is what investors want to plan their businesses. It is not easy to set up anything in Nigeria because there is no reliable system in place.”

  • Customs ready for implementation of Pre-Arrival Report

    Customs ready for implementation of Pre-Arrival Report

    The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is gearing up for the implementation of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), which will replace the Risk Assessment Record (RAR) being operated at the ports.

    The Customs said the Ministry of Finance had approved the pilot scheme of the PAAR, which, will prepare it to takeover from service providers. The service providers carry out destination inspection at the ports on contract and their contract will end in December.

    Customs Public Relations Officer Wale Adeniyi said the test-run of PAAR would soon begin. He urged ports’stakeholders to bear with the agency during the test running.

    Adeniyi, who represented the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi, at the maritime reporters’ colloquium, said the Customs would soon plant the port where to test-run the scheme.

    He said: “During the test-run, we will run the information communication technology (ICT) platform parallel with what the service providers are doing now. It is going to be a parallel service so that we will implement the ethics associated with the switching off of (RAR) and the switching on of (PAAR)”

    The purpose of the test-run, he said, was to achieve a seamless transmission, within six months.

    Adeniyi said the Customs was set to take over destination inspection from the service providers after seven years, adding that stakeholders should expect some hiccups during the test-run.

    He noted that in 2005 when RAR started with the service providers, as established as the system was, there were some hiccups but as time progressed, people started getting used to it.

    The seven years’ contract of the three firms providing scanner services and generating RAR in the Destination Inspection scheme ended last December and their service was extended by six months, which ended in June. It was further extended by another six months, which will end by December.

    To ensure efficiency, the Customs is training its personnel at the facility of Smith Detection in France, makers of the scanner machines, being used by the service providers.

    The ICT platform would generate PAAR six hours before the arrival of the cargo as against the six days it currently takes the service providers to generate the RAR for processing cargo clearance. All activities in PAAR are to be carried out by Nigerians, the Customs said.

    Adeniyi said: “We are not just ready we are far ahead of the service providers with regards to the currency of our technology.”

    He dismissed as baseless the fear that the agency would revert to 100 percent physical examination of cargoes when the service providers leave because of alleged incompetence of its officers and men in operating and maintaining the scanners.

    To show its preparedness to take over from the service providers, the Customs unveiled the gigantic ICT platform, named Nigerian Trade Portal to reporters in Abuja, and demonstrated its operation.

    The equipment, it said, was capable of completing the processing of trade good documents in six hours before arrival, if the shippers make genuine declaration and issues are resolved with other agencies of government, such as National Agency for Food Administration Drug and Control (NAFDAC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

    The multi-million dollar ICT infrastructure located at the ‘Customs Rule Centre,’ headquarters of the agency in Abuja was developed by indigenous ICT experts drawn from over 900 ICT graduates employed by the agency from universities at home and abroad.

    The ICT platform is being funded by the agency for now while all government agencies are connected to the server including the Central Bank of Nigeria. “But when the system transits to the Single window information system, the responsibility of funding will become that of the Federal Government,” Adeniyi said.

  • Apapa Customs rakes in N121b

     

    The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) boosted the government’s coffer with N121 billion in the first six months of the year.

    The Public Relations Officer, Apapa Area Command, Mr Emmanuel Ekpa, in the command’s half-year performance report, said the amount collected represented only 52 per cent of the total revenue targeted to be generated within the first half of the year.

    Ekpa said: “The command collected over N121 billion as revenue generated into the federation and non-federation accounts between January and June 2013. The amount collected is about 52 per cent of the N234 billion aspired to be collected in the first six months of the year going by the monthly revenue target of N39 billion.”

    A breakdown of the revenue figure shows that the Command collected N20.8 billion in January; N19.8 billion in February; N18.6 billion in March. However, in the month of April, over N20 billion was collected as against N19.7 billion raked in the same period last year. The performance showed an increase in the previous year’s record.

    The Command collected N19.8 billion in May as against N24.6 billion in May 2012. For the month of June, the command collected a total of N21 billion as against the N36.7billion in June of 2012.

    Ekpa said that the inability of the Command to meet its half year target was due to the continuous decline in the volume of importation into the country.

  • Renew Dikko’s tenure, govt urged

    Freight Forwarders have urged President Goodluck Jonathan to reappoint the Controller-General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko, for a second term.

    The Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (CMDLCA), the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) and the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), in a statement, said Dikko deserves more time to enable him to “put finishing touches to his laudable programmes”.

    Dikko’s tenure will end next month when he would have served four years, but stakeholders want him to continue.

    CMDLCA’s Seme Chapter Chairman, Charles Thomas, said: “Dikko has taken the Customs Service to a height that would have been impossible to attain in 50 years without his enterprise, passion, zeal, focus, professionalism and dedication, but he needs some more time, at least, one year more, to round off some of his programmes.

    AREFFN’s National Vice-President, Innocent Elum, said: “I know that Dikko has served four years and he has done very well; no doubt about that. But I know also that there are things he still needs to put in place, or fine-tune. He needs more time to do that. Service rushed is service crushed. I call on President Goodluck Jonathan to give him another four years.”

    Chairman ANLCA, Seme Chapter, Patrick Ozobialu, said Dikko, a Russian-trained economist, has “brought blessings” to NCS.He said Dikko has modernised the servive and and projected it for international relevance and recognition, adding that the CG has boosted the morale of the officers and men, as well as introduced training programme for all.

    He said the NCS helmsman is partnering anti-corruption agencies, especially the EFCC, to fight corruption in the ports. He appealed to the President to give him more time “so, we can tap more from his good ideas”.

  • Why corruption is high at ports, by report

    WHY is corruption endemic at the ports? It is because of ineffective administrative practices, weak institutions and poverty, among others, says a report on the Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) of six ports.

    The ports are Apapa and Tin Can in Lagos State, Port Harcourt and Onne (Rivers), Calabar (Cross River) and Warri (Delta).

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR) and Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) commissioned the work.

    ICPC Chairman Ekpo Nta, who presented the report in Lagos at a validation meeting, said it was prepared by the group’s consultants, Constantine Palicarsky and Chibuzo Ekwekwuo.

    Corruption, the report said, was high at the ports because of poverty and related cultural issues, adding that there are 70 million people living below poverty level in the country.

    It said: “In addition, serious security problems make the situation even more difficult for entrepreneurs. This generates additional costs for clients and contributes to the delay in port processes. For instance, proposal for 24-hour operation of the ports cannot be implemented as a result of security concerns. Besides, the host community seems to be a problem in itself and often local communities feeling alienated mount organised pressure to demand money from operators. This is noticeable particularly in the Warri port.

    “Indications for state capture exist particularly in Onne and Warri ports, where concessions have been given to Intels as a terminal operator. Also there is no independent place or institution to report corruption occurring in the ports. Complainants have no direct access to ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in the ports area or access to alternative virtual mechanisms. Complaints submitted to port agencies are often referred to the very subjects against whom the complaint is filed, or immediate but compromised superiors. As a result there is huge reluctance to report corrupt demands, and stakeholders fear subtle but effective reprisals if they do,” they explained.”

    The report said, while attention is on restructuring operations at the ports including adoption of the Landlord Port Model and concessioning of many ports to private concerns, attention is not given to the agencies, their internal and external environment. Consequently, the organisational culture within those institutions affects their operations in the ports, the report said, adding that insufficient attention is given to ethics development, deployment and compliance monitoring issues at the ports.

    It said Nigeria still doesn’t have an approved National Anti-Corruption Strategy, adding that the system of checks and balances is not entirely effective and needs to be improved.

    The report said: “The nature and limits of legislative and executive oversight needs to be better codified and made more predictable. Also, policy volatility is a major problem. The effects of this include multiple regulators and agencies at the ports in the past few decades. The controversy on the direct inspection contracts at the ports and borders is another example of policy volatility.

    “The declared policy and concession framework required securing direct inspection companies to provide technology, equipment, training and inspection services such as scanning, for a number of years. They were required to use the contract period to train and equip customs officials, and handover operations and equipment at the end of the agreed service period to the Nigeria Customs Service. It would appear that now the contracts have ended, there is reluctance to allow customs takeover.”

    The report noted that despite the adoption of Information Technology (IT) in conduct of ports’ businesses as well as Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), many operations are carried out manually with the attendant errors and corrupt practices.

     

     

  • Ogun Customs reduces clearing time

    The Ogun Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has introduced efficiency in clearing period of goods through the Idi-Iroko border post. The clearing period through the area (that is the process of taking imports out of the command), which formerly takes about one week, has been reduced to about one hour.

    It was gathered that goods especially vehicles, which have accurate declarations either by the importers or agents, are now speedily processed by the Customs officers through the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA++).

    It was also learnt that once the goods have been valued and scanned, the correct import duties paid, and no discrepancy detected on the goods during the examination process, the goods are released to their owners immediately.

    An importer, Mr Azeez Owodunni, who also is the Managing Director of Azeez Clearing and Forwarding Agency, confirmed that vehicles can be cleared through the Idi-Iroko border post in one hour if the declarations for the payment of import duty is properly done and no concealment found in the cargo.

    Another agent, who patronises the border post, said unlike in the past when it took days to clear goods through the Ogun Command border post, the clearing process can now be commenced and completed within one hour depending on the sincerity of the agent or importer at paying the right import duty on goods.

    The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Command, Comptroller Ade Dosunmu explained that what was responsible for the improvement in clearing of goods at the command, was the effective us e of the ASYCUDA++and the scanning machine for the examination of goods.

    He said the Idi- Iroko border post is one of the few b order posts in Nigeria today where you can make your correct self-assessment and have your documents processed for clearing of your goods within an hour.

    Dosunmu said the encouragement the command gave the officers since he assumed office as the Controller, served as an impetus for them to be more committed and effective.

    He listed some of the motivations to include increase in salaries and improvement in their welfare by the Customs Comptroller-General (CGC), Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko.

    He said his keying into the seven- point agenda of the CGC, has made it possible for him to ensure that the command’s operations were carried out faster so as to encourage more importers to use the border post and thus increase the revenue accruable to the Federal Government from imports.

    He explained that once an agent or importer does his self-assessment correctly at the Idi-Iroko Data Trade Input (DTI) by paying the right import duty on the cargo, there would be no basis for any delay on the part of the command at ensuring that the goods are cleared promptly.

    The Controller noted that in as much as the officers are up-to-date in training and are more committed to their work, there would be no way goods cannot be cleared within one hour at the command.

     

    Officers he said, have been warned against undue delay in attending to documents, adding that bottlenecks militating against speedy clearing of goods have also been eliminated. He said the command is already working towards completing the clearing process in less than one hour.

    Dosunmu, however, lauded the CGC for the improvement the command has recorded in its operations, adding that it was due to the provision of adequate logistics by the headquarters. He pleaded for more encouragement to make the area to perform better.

     

     

  • Railway to evacuate containers from Lagos to Kano next month

    The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has said it will start haulage of containers from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano States next month.

    NRC’s Head of Public Relations, Mr David Ndakotsu, told The Nation that arrangement has been concluded to transport containers from APM Terminals at Apapa Port to inland container depots in Kaduna and Kano.

    “As from August, we will start the haulage of containers from APM Terminals in Apapa Port to the Inland Container Nigeria Ltd depots in Kaduna and Kano states.

    The initiative, he said, was to boost the corporation’s public-private partnership.

    Ndakotsu also said an agreement had been signed with a company for the weekly haulage of its bran and wheat flour from Lagos to Kaduna under the programme.

    “About 436 tonnes of the products are expected to be freighted weekly from Apapa to Kaduna,’’ he said.

    On the third weekly Lagos-Kano passenger train service, Ndakotsu said the train would depart Lagos at 11.00 a.m. every Thursday with arrival time of 5.00 p.m. in Kano the following day.

    He said with the additional service, the number of passengers to be moved on the route would increase from 3,500 to 5,500.

    “It is anticipated that the third weekly train service will help to decongest existing services and avail passengers more comfortable and pleasant trips,’’ Ndakotsu added.

    The first weekly Lagos-Kano passenger train service, which was inaugurated on December 21, 2012, departs Lagos at noon every Friday.

    The second weekly train service, which departs Lagos at 9.00 a.m. on Tuesdays, terminates at Ilorin, Kwara, with a connecting train from Offa to Kano.