The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • Minister seeks efficiency at port

    The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, has urged stakeholders in the maritime industry to collaborate with the Federal Government in its quest to ensure sanity and efficiency to the ports.

    Speaking at the launch of an Integrated Port Community Information System in Port Community Information System (IPCIS), he said, President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is determined to make the ports attractive for business and urged the stakeholders to embrace the IPCI system.

    The benefits of the new system include ship reporting; on-line automated notice of arrival and departure of vessels, tracking; automatic identification system, weather current and tide information, port community system, cargo tracking, smart port technology, unattended asset sensor, and also useful in operation of inland container deport.

    The system could also provide solutions to various aspects of challenges in port operation; reduce cost, offers steady profits to stakeholders and act as trade facilitator centre.

    In his own remark, the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authirity (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi said the system was launched as part of the efforts of NPA to promote efficiency at ports.

     

  • ‘Stakeholders sabotage enforcement of Cabotage Act’

    The implementation of the Cabotage Act is being sabotaged by stakeholders, a university teacher has said.

    Mr Dipo Alaka of the Lagos State University (LASU) said the law could easily be implemented if the agency saddled with enforcing it, musters the political will to do so.

    “This is the time for the government to buckle-up and see to the implementation of the Cabotage law. But we need to understand the problems confronting the agency before we can say yes, maybe some individuals in government are trying to frustrate the implementation.

    “My thinking is that every ship that calls at our port should first declare arrival to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), NIMASA and the Navy. By doing so, it would become easy to implement the law,” he said.

    Alaka said the execution of the law should not be a problem. “The agency saddled with enforcing the law does not even need to get to the jetty to arrest a vessel; she can ask a vessel to tell her its point of loading. So, if it is offshore Lagos or offshore Cotonou, the agency can then verify if it is on the list of Cabotage registered vessels.

    “Therefore, implementation should not be a major issue. From all indications, there must be a kind of conspiracy between the operators and people that grant approval for foreign vessels to come into the country.”

    He said Nigerian ship owners must be supported by the governmentand banks to buy sufficient vessels to adequately carry out coastal trade.

     

     

     

     

  • Reps probe Destination Inspectors’ N275b contracts

    • Importers, agents flay 100% cargo inspection

    The House of Representatives has directed its Committee on Customs and Excise to probe the extension of the N275billion contracts awarded to Destination Inspectors (DI) at the ports.

    Under the deal, the DIs, sources said, would get N21 billion, irrespective of the quality of work done.

    The House, sources said, is not happy that the country’s revenue potential is not being realised because the DIs are not paying the correct taxes.

    Over $1 billion, it was alleged, has been lost.

    The probe, source said, was, initiated to prevent the continued loss of revenue.

    Those affected are: Cotecna Destination Inspection Limited, SGS Scanning Nigeria Limited, Global Scan Systems Limited and Webb Fountain (Nigeria) Limited.

    Sources said some Representatives are not happy that the Federal Government extended theDIs’ contracts for six months without following due process.

    The contracts were for the provision of facilities for the prosecution of Destination Inspection Scheme (DIS), including scanning services, risk management techniques and electronic platform at the borders, and the training of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) personnel.

    The companies were also expected to build, equip, train and transfer their technology and expertise to the Customs and hand over to the Service fully last year.

    Sources said the committee was given two weeks to report to the House.

    Speaking in Lagos last week, the Controller of the Apapa Area One Command of the Nigeria Customs, Umar Muhammed, said officers were already working with the DIs on the scanning site and in their offices with the hope of taking over from them this month.

    Had the contracts not been extended by the Federal Government, he said Customs would have performed well in destination inspection because many officers had gone through training. Each, he said, had been given the posts that they would handle this year.

    The 100 per cent physical examination of car-goes by Customs has again been faulted for its inadequacies.

    Importers and clearing agents are demanding a review of the policy, because it impedes prompt cargo clearance and causes delay at port.

    Terminal operators, importers said, use it as an excuse for the delay in positioning their containers for examination.

    Managing Director, Kenny Doo Investment, Alhaji Kehinde Al-Moruf Oloyede, urged importers to ensure that their declaration is correct. He advised the Customs to review the policy to ease cargo clearance.

    Stakeholders said the 48-hour cargo clearance target time aimed at bringing the ports in line with what obtains in other ports in West African countries.

    Oloyede urged the Customs to acquire hi-tech equipment that are capable of examining cargoes to fast-track the delivery of consignments to consignees.

    He also urged the Service to improve on its information-tracking system where containerised cargoes can be known without subjecting them to 100 per cent physical examination.

     

  • Shippers’ Council to attract 3m cargoes

    The Acting Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr Hassan Bello, has led a trade delegation, comprising port concessionaires, administrators, government officials and other shipping service providers, to Niger Republic.

    The visit is expected to attract over three million metric tonnes of cargo to Nigeria’s sea ports.

    The trip, according to a statement, was at the instance of the Ministry of Transport to convince the land-locked Niger Republic to patronise Nigeria’s sea ports.

    Bello said: “What we are doing is part of efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Government of Niger Republic to discharge their international law obligations as coastal/transit state and landlocked state.”

    He said the meeting between Nigerian maritime industry operators and the Niger Republic business community was facilitated by the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Development.

    The NSC boss told The Nation the Council aims to attract up to three million metric tonnes of Niger Republic’s consignments to the Nigeria’s sea ports annually.

    “At present, Niger Republic is doing about 2.5 million metric tonnes in Benin Republic, 1.5 million metric tonnes in Togo, and close to a million metric tonnes in Ghana. Nigerian ports can do up to three million metric tonnes annually, and up to 2,000 Niger Republic-bound containers monthly from our projection. Don’t forget also that Nigeria has strong diplomatic relations with Niger Republic, and an international obligation to landlocked countries around it. We believe the visit will open up a bundle of business opportunities for our ports.

    “It may interest you to know that, until the year 2006, about 70 per cent of Niger Republic cargo transited through Nigerian ports, as against the current zero percent. So, the mission is aimed at attracting back Niger Republic’s cargo to Nigerian ports and ensuring access of their cargo to Nigerian seaports,” Bello stated. Major imports into Niger Republic, like Nigeria, are mostly consumer goods, while the country exports uranium, sesame seed, Arabic gum, groundnut and skin.

    “Niger Republic is an oil producing country, and looks up to the ports of neighbouring countries to export crude,” he said.

    Bello, who assumed the mantle of leadership at the NSC in December last year, said his major concern is to reinvigorate the Council to play its role of trade facilitation.

    “We have started the process of reinvigorating the shippers’ associations all over the country. We are the secretariat of all the shippers in Nigeria – importers and exporters – and we must now begin to really protect their interests,” he stated. Bello said, under his leadership, service delivery will become the watchword for all NSC staff.

    “Service delivery is important. We are here to serve the shippers. We have been solving their problems and attending to their complaints but now we need to automate the process. We’ll acquire toll-free numbers where they can call in and lodge their complaints and receive prompt attention from our staff,” Bello said.

     

  • Customs fails to meet N872b target

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated N850,876,698,974.19 last year.

    Its Deputy Public Relations Officer Assistant Comptroller Joseph Attah told The Nation that the Service in 2011 exceeded the Federal Government’s target of N596 billion by recording N741.83 billion.

    Attah said waiver concessions that were granted to some persons and companies were over N30 billion.

    “The government gave us a target of N872 billion and we realised N850 billion. We would have hit the target, but for waiver concession that was granted,” he said.

    He said the additional N328 billion by its Comptroller-General, Alhaji Dikko I Abdulahi, was a strategy to surpass the N872 billion target the government set for the Service.

    The Ports and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML) command said the total revenue it collected last year stood at N71,267,589,007 as against N51,264,053,039 in 2011.

    Its Public Relations Officer, Mr Steve Okonmah, said this was an increase of N20,003,535,698 over the figure it collected in 2011.

    Analysing the figure, Okonmah said a total of N43.83 billion went into the Federation Account while N27.43 billion was for the non-Federation Account.

    On anti-smuggling, the command said 18 seizures were made last year. “A breakdown shows that eight of the containers were 40ft while seven were 20ft containers. Also, three vehicles were seized,” he stated.

    The Comptroller of the command, Mr Zakari Jibrin, while promising an improvement in the revenue drive of the command and renewed commitment to anti-smuggling, warned that tough times await fraudulent importers this year.

     

  • NPA to acquire equipment to boost security

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi has approved the purchase of more equipment to boost port security.

    The items include boats for water front patrol, motor cycles, patrol van and towing vans for the security department of the agency to ensure efficient and effective security at the nation’s seaports.

    NPA’s General Manager, Security, Lt. Col Jamil Tahir (Rtd), made this known while addressing heads of security department at a quarterly meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    Tahir said baggage scanners and scanning machines for vehicles, trucks and their drivers would also be installed at the ports.

    He pointed out that the equipment would not affect Customs operations because the duties of his men and customs’ differ. He said: While “Customs officials look for contrabands, Nigerian Ports Security look for dangerous cargoes”.

    He thanked the management of the authority for sponsoring some security officers to attend local and international courses last year and appealed for more in view of the dynamic nature of security challenges.

    While commending his officers for their dedication to duty in the past year, he enjoined them not rest on their oars in order to reciprocate management’s gesture.

     

  • ‘Freight forwarders don’t need Customs licence to practise’

    Customs licence is not a prerequisite for freight forwarding practitioners, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has said.

    It has directed its members not to bother about Customs licence to practise at ports and border stations.

    In a letter signed by its Chairman, Board of Trustees, Mr Chidiebere Enelama, NAGAFF said: “It is not mandatory to own a Customs licence for the purpose of freight forwarding business in Nigeria.”

    The association urged its members to register with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), and pay their yearly dues to the body.

    It advised freight forwarders, who do not have a Customs licence, to register with the association.

    “The identity card issued by the CRFFN and NAGAFF are the authority you need to enter the ports and approved border stations of the Nigeria Customs Service to transact business,” it said.

    NAGAFF said its members must be duly registered with the CRFFN.

    It urged the Council’s Registrar, Sir Mike Jukwe, “to establish an outdoor registration post at NAGAFF village in Apapa to assist intending members.

    “It is mandatory for every chapter to establish and administer a chapter secretariat in the name of NAGAFF with necessary facilities, including register of members well kept for headquarters administration and records.”

    The association said it would sanction any erring member or chapter executive members who refused to comply.

    The President of NAGAFF, Mr Eugene Nweke, has been given the authority and mandate of the Board to invoke emergency powers to deal with non-compliant members in line with the association’s constitutional provisions.

     

  • Minister angry over delay at ports

    Minister angry over delay at ports

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) management and some top Customs officials have incurred the ire of the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, over last Thursday’s long queue at the Apapa port.

    They have been asked to explain what caused the queue.

    The Minister is also seeking to know why the port looks like a “disorganised market” despite President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts to make it user-friendly.

    For almost an hour last week, the minister and his team walked from the gate to APM Terminals office to find out the cause of the delay in the movement of trucks.

    He was accompanied by the Minister of State for Works, Alhaji Pateh Alli; the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye; the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Nebolisa Emordi; NPA Managing Director, Mallam Habib Abdullahi and some Customs officials.

    Dissatisfied with the reasons given by NPA and Customs official, the minister released all trucks cleared by Customs, including the ones chained by NPA officials.

    Umar said he was not happy with what he saw.

    President Jonathan, the Minister said, reduced the number of government agencies at the ports to stem congestion, free the port access road, ease cargo clearance, facilitate trade, make the port attractive for business and boost revenue generation.

    Facing an official, he said: “Tell me why the port is disorganised? Why are these vehicles stationed on the main access road to the port? Who chained this vehicle down here to obstruct traffic? This is unacceptable to us. It is unacceptable to this government. This is a very bad situation and we must be very serious in addressing the problem.

    ”It is an embarrassment for me to come to the port and I am not happy. I made some public utterances out of frustration. I cannot understand why the port will continue to operate as if it is a disorganised market. Mr President said we must sanitise the port and we must sanitise it. The Customs is involved, the NPA is involved, the clearing agents are involved, the transporters are involved, the shipping line, everybody needs to cooperate. I am not here to apportion blames but from what I have seen, I am not happy.

    Attempts by an NPA official to explain that they were not responsible for the state of the port was rebuffed by the minister.

    The Minster said: “Everything in the port is under NPA. What is written on the gate? Is it not NPA? You cannot be shifting responsibility for God’s sake. You keep on saying there is no solution to this problem. That is unacceptable to this government.

    “We must be pro-active. The queue is just there, no movement, nothing. The drivers are not inside the trucks and nobody seems to know what is happening.

    “NPA, you own the port. You must not allow this. Anybody who has not finished its documentation must not be allowed to load, not to talk of blocking the access road.”

    Monye told The Nation that the port was becoming “a national embarrassment.” He said NPA seemed to have lost control of the port.

    “NPA needs to have a stronger administrative control because the clearing agents have taken over the port from what we have seen.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Customs re-strategises against smuggling

    Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Ikeja, are re-strategising to boost their anti-smuggling activities this year.

    Sources said the Area Controller of the command, Mr Dan Ugo, has given his officers and men a road map to follow to achieve the objectives of the service in paralysing smuggling.

    The road map, sources said, would assist the officers to secure the borders and actualise the vision of the service.

    When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the unit, Mr Uche Ejesieme, warned smugglers to keep off the border posts, adding that the officers and men of the unit were ready to arrest and bring smugglers to book.

    “We have the human capacity; we have what it takes to fight smuggling and we would not relent. We are monitoring every place in the Southwest.”

    The PRO said the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi, had been retraining officers and also providing some patrol equipment to complement the effort of the officers this year.

     

  • CRFFN cracks down on quacks

    The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has said it will crack down on quacks at the ports.

    Its Registrar, Sir Mike Jukwe, said collection of Identity Cards, which lapsed on December 31, this year, could be get at their offices in Apapa–Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt for their members.

    “The CRFFN enforcement team along with law enforcement agencies will from next month carry out raids of quacks and those without the identity cards from the nation’s cargo ports for prosecution,” he said.

    He also said the maiden Register of Freight Forwarders comprised those registered with the Council by the end of last year would soon be published in the Official Gazette.

    Jukwe urged members of the Council to renew their practising licences before the end of the first quarter of the year.

    “Please take note that renewal of practising licence will be subject to participation in the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MPCD) programme to be held quarterly by the Nigerian Institute of Freight Forwarding (NIFF), which details will be released in due course,” he said.