The NLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML), which manages vessels belonging to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), is to establish dry-docking facility to end a capital flight.
NLNG, the Managing Director, NSML, Abdul-Kadir Ahmed, said, does not dry dock its ships in the country due to inadequate upgraded facilities in the country.
He made this known to The Nation on the sidelines of his engagement with reporters in Lagos.
NSML, he said, is planning to bring in Samsung, Hyundai and some Nigerian investors to establish a dry-docking facility in Nigeria based on the fact that ships in the fleet of NLNG plied international waters.
Ahmed said the company must carry out its dry-docking of its vessels in a facility that is accepted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
“In line with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulation, every vessel must undergo dry-docking once every three years to retain their safety classification and insurance cover. It costs between $300,000 and $500,000 to dry-dock a vessel, according to prevailing international rates.
“NMSL would have wanted to dry-dock its 11 LNG vessels and one LPG vessel in Nigeria due to the huge revenue such would generate for the country, but for lack of a dry-docking facility that can handle an LNG vessel in the country, the company is forced to dry dock her vessels outside it.”
He, however, said NSML plans to create dry-docking facilities in Nigeria to end the capital flight.
“As part of our Bonny Gas Transport (BGT) Plus Project, there was a scheme to bring in Samsung and Hyundai with some Nigerian investors to establish a dry-docking facility in Nigeria.
“Unfortunately, the scheme has not fully taken off, but we are still optimistic. We hope that when it fully takes off, it will commence at the right standard,” said Ahmed.
The economy is losing several billions of naira to capital flight due to the inability of available docking facilities in the country to dry dock vessels of the NLNG.
In line with IMO regulations, every vessel must dry-dock once every three years to retain its safety classification and insurance cover.
Dockyards in Nigeria include Niger Dock, Dormanlong, Kaztec Engineering, and Naval Dock. They were established to conserve foreign exchange (forex), build indigenous capacity as well as promote technological advancement in the nation.
The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has stressed the need to fully adopt digitalisation to reduce corruption. In this report, OLUWAKEMI DAUDA writes on why the Federal Government should support the Council in this endeavour for more service delivery.
Why are too many people still going into the nation’s seaports in this era of digitalisation?
This is the puzzle the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) Mr Hassan Bello, wants the stakeholders, operators, security, government agencies and port users to solve.
At a press conference in Lagos, Bello said the port can be contactless with the use of computers.
He noted that a non-contact port is the solution to many problems in the system. He listed these as delays, which lead to demurrage, diversion of money, corruption and revenue leakages.
Bello kicked against a situation where many people would converge on the nation’s seaports to transact businesses that could be done from the comfort of their homes and offices. Human contact, in this era of global digitalisation, Bello said, is dangerous because it is non-efficient, causes delays and breeds corruption at the ports.
He said digitilisation would make our ports more competitive, noting that the country had competitors in West and Central Africa sub-regions.
What is digitalisation?
Digital technologies helps to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. For ports to cope with changes in the global economy, meet growing demand and an increase in throughput of cargo, the ports and their stakeholders will have to strike new agreements on collaboration and standardisation on big data, which in turn, make port computerisation easier to achieve.
Digitalisation, in the container handling context, is considered as a matter of the logistic chain, cloud and big data. While these are, undoubtedly, key aspects in digitalisation of container shipping, the system also transforms the processes and workers’roles within terminals, which has an impact on terminals’productivity.
Digitalisation of quay operations impacts positively processes and roles and contributes to increased productivity.
Expectations
Digitalisation is expected to cut the cost of doing business, corruption and sanitise the port environment. Before now, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reform (TUGAR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) had assessed maritime operations to proffer solutions to the highly corrupt business environment.
Hassan-Bello
This led to the introduction of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and a Grievance Reporting Mechanism (GRM) to uphold the standards set by the SOPs and a web portal to administer the complaint collection and communication under the management and coordination of NSC as a one-stop shop to resolve grievances and to increase the levels of accountability of port officials in their adherence to SOPs.
A maritime lawyer Dr Dipo Alaka, said the Federal Government and private sector investors were losing a total of $10.1 billion yearly to corruption due to lack of digitilisation at the ports. He urged the government to support the Council to deal with the menace.
Corruption at ports
The NSC, it was learnt, recovered $14,000 bribe proceeds from officials saddled with boarding and inspection of vessels. Bello said bribes being collected from seafarers and captains of ships had become an international embarrassment to the Federal Government and the country at large.
At a briefing on the first quarter of the year activities of the council in Lagos, Bello said the seaports have attained 70 per cent digitalisation.
He said it was not easy to achieve this, adding that they had the scorecards of every terminal and shipping firms that led to the tremendous improvement.
He said the 70 per cent digitalisation was lower than 90 per cent targeted by the council in the first quarter of this year. According to him, the council targeted 90 per cent digitalisation in the first quarter of the year, unfortunately, it did not achieve it although it was still pursuing it in earnest.
“Most of the ports in the world are digitilised. Nigeria cannot be an exception. We cannot have a multitude of people going into the ports every day. Human contact at the ports is very dangerous. It is anti-efficiency and once there is human contact, there will be corruption and, then, delay. Some people don’t even have any business to go to the port, but you see them there, what are they doing?
“We have been working with shipping companies and terminal operators to ensure we make the deadline we set for the first quarter, but we saw it was not feasible to attain 90 per cent digitalisation. What we were able to do on the average was 70 per cent, but digitisation of the ports is a process in the making. We want this to happen as quickly as possible,” he said.
The level of digitalisation
On the level of digitalisation of shipping firms, Bello said, Grimaldi had 88 per cent; Ocean Network Express 76 per cent, and CMA CGM 63 per cent.
He added that some of those that scored 20 per cent, had improved with the guidance of the council.
For seaport terminals, Bello said PTML had 92 per cent, and in Port Harcourt, Intels, BUA and Wact had 70 per cent digitalisation each.
“Where we are having problems is on reforms and claims processes, which is mostly manual, but we have some that scored 50 per cent.
“Also, the second phase is the integration of systems for anybody can be online, but there is a need to integrate with the banks, for example, and even the Nigeria Customs Services, “ he said.
He said digitalisation would promote cleanliness in the port environment as well as tackle illegal trading.
“We are going to clear the whole port environment, we are going to work with the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Ports and Offences Act will be cited to clear the place.
“You cannot sell food or diesel at the port. The port is a special place that requires the speedy execution of transactions. We cannot have people selling engine oil,” he said. He said for Nigeria to define its role in the transport sector, which would be very significant, there was the need to accommodate bigger ships in our ports and that was the role the Lekki Deep Seaport would play.
“Most of the ports in the world are digitised. Nigeria cannot be an exception. We cannot have a multitude of people going into the ports every day; human contact in the ports is very dangerous. It is anti-efficiency and once there is human contact, there will be corruption and then delay.
“Some people don’t even have any business at the port, but you see them there.What are they doing?
“We have been working with shipping companies and terminal operators to ensure we make the deadline we set for the first quarter, but we saw it was not feasible to attain 90 per cent digitilisation. What we were able to do on the average was 70 per cent, but digitisation of the ports is a process in the making. We want this to happen as quickly as possible.”
Problems
An expert listed the problems in the reforms and claims processes, which are mostly manual.
In 2018, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) acquired a N50 billion floating dock. Till date, it has not been put to use, raising concerns among stakeholders whether the dock will go the way of some government’s projects, writes OLUWAKEMI DAUDA.
When will the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA) multi-billion naira floating dock be deployed. Soon, says its Director-General, Dr. Bashir Jamoh.
But how soon? ask stakeholders in the industry.
The floating dock topped discussions when Jamoh visited the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman, in her office recently.
Jamoh recounted the process of securing the NPA Continental Shipyard for the floating dock, and getting approval from the Federal Ministry of Transportation as well as the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC). He emphasised that obtaining these approvals were important preliminary conditions “because of the need to engage managing partners and ICRC is in charge of the mode of operations and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement”.
He also explained that the agency had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with international oil companies (IOCs) doing business with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to take their ships to NIMASA’s dockyard for dry-docking when the dockyard begins operations.
Jamoh stated: “I am here to affirm that the modular floating dock has come to stay. We have concluded arrangements for its deployment and operation. The date for its inauguration would be announced soon.”
The N50 billion equipment was purchased by NIMASA in 2018, and it has remained in limbo since then.
Stakeholders said the deployment of the floating dock would save the country billions yearly in capital flights due to lack of dry-docking facilities in-country.
The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh
A maritime lawyer, Dr. Dipo Alaka, said there was a significant market opportunity for the floating dock. “Nigeria loses over $500 million yearly to foreign shipyards due to vessels using docking facilities in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroun, Ghana, Namibia and South Africa.
“There would be significant economic impacts and benefits in the country and across the region when the floating dry dock is deployed by NIMASA. They are cheaper to maintain compared to graving docks and can get higher resalable returns. They can be installed near or away from the shore inside the harbour, making them a portable and space-saving structure without taking space of the shore facility,” Jamoh said.
Dry docking
Dry docking is an essential process for shipping firms. Regardless the type of ship, each should be operated through a set of regulations or it will be banned.
The regulations are set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the United States’ Coast Guard for safety..
The role of NPA
In an interview with reporters, Ms. Bala-Usman stressed the need to promote NIMASA’s dry dock to the maximum capacity by agreeing to place the NPA’s Continental Shipyard at the agency’s disposal.
“We believe the floating dock is an integral part of the maritime sector and we like to commend NIMASA for starting this and NPA will continue to provide the necessary support as it relates to the aspect of our shareholding within the SPV being guided by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC),” Bala-Usman stated.
She added: “As it is, NPA has confirmed and reiterated that it will support and hand over those facilities within the next few weeks to enable NIMASA to conclude the movement of the modular floating dock from the Naval Dockyard to the Continental dockyard. This is a very welcome development for the sector and we look forward to patronising and using the dockyard facility for our vessels and other vessels of government agencies.”
Jamoh said: “You have heard from the MD of NPA. Within the next few weeks, the continental shipyard would be ready to house the floating dock. The second aspect is the issue of operation; we have obtained the approval of the ICRC and we have been directed to move to the Federal Executive Council.
“As far as we are concerned, the confirmation of certain aspects of the operations will be run concurrently. While we are seeking the Federal Executive Council’s approval, the issue of a managing partner will be considered and Expression of Interest will be published. So, we are good to go.”
Benefits of deployment
When fully operational, the floating dock will provide a lot of benefits to the industry. They include conserving foreign exchange, providing employment, boosting indigenous capacity, developing shipping, and providing training exposure for students of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, and the Maritime University, Okerenkoko.
Deplorable dry docking capacity
Stakeholders have, for years, lamented the deplorable dry docking capacity. They lament that shipyard facilities are inadequate and are constrained by inadequate infrastructure and obsolete facilities; hence, they do not have the capacity to take bigger vessels for repairs.
Vessels visiting the port
The result is that over 1,200 vessels that operate within the nation’s territorial waters are forced to go outside the country for dry docking. The stakeholders said they were also not happy as over 6,000 vessels that call at the ports yearly are leaving for other African countries for dry docking.
Aside the revenue loss to the country, the non-availability of dry docking facilities translates to huge job losses, as an average small shipyard has the capacity to employ over 100 skilled and unskilled staff.
Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of transportation
“A lot of jobs are lost, when vessels leave the country to look for dry-docking facilities in other countries that are even smaller to Nigeria. More jobs would have been created in the country, if we have operational ship repair yards in the country. Dry docking of vessels outside the country hinders its opportunities for skill and technology transfer. The continuation of this practice means that Nigeria will never improve its capacity to repair vessels, which in turn, diminishes the possibility of shipbuilding in the country,” lamented an analyst, Mr. Felix Ajato.
A former General Manager, Public Affairs, NPA, Chief Michael Kayode Ajayi, said the implication of dry-docking vessels abroad was grave, adding that it encouraged capital flight. He urged FEC to give NIMASA the nod to deploy the floating dock and provide an enabling environment for the emergence of high capacity shipyards in view of the huge market for such services.
Also, a ship broker, Mr. Kolapo Johnson, said despite Nigeria’s maritime position in Africa, the number of shipyards was small, and the few we have could not compare with what is in Senegal, South Africa and Cote d’lvoire.
Preparing a ship for dry docking
A marine engineer, Mr. Frances Friday, said: “Preparing a ship for a dry dock is not an easy task. A lot of planning is required to ensure smooth repairing work along with optimum ship repair cost.
“Every ship undergoes major repairing work during dry-dock period. Though there are several intermediate docking surveys and repairs scheduled in between, a five- yearly dry dock is the one which involves major revamping of the ship.
“Needless to say, dry dock is an expensive process which requires systematic and efficient planning and cost estimation to minimise overhead costs along with other unnecessary spending,” he said.
According to him, cost estimation plays an important role in keeping a check on a ship’s dry docking budget and to ensure a sensible quotation for the repair work. There are three important aspects of ship repair cost estimation.
He pointed out that cost grouping is mainly done on the basis of ship’s departments. For example, deck, engine, electrical, engine room, accommodation area, navigation equipment, anchor and deck machinery, cargo, hull, rudder and tail shaft, cargo tanks, fuel tanks, ballast tanks, and slop tanks.
Areas where revenue are generated include: dry docking fees and repairs yard costs; agency costs, classification, surveyors’ costs, cost of the stores; repair and maintenance costs, damage repair costs and costs of spares, among others.
Purpose of dry docking
The main purpose of a dry dock is to expose the underwater parts for inspection, repairs and maintenance. The ship to be repaired is hence manoeuvred into the lock and the gates are sealed post which the sea water accumulated in the vessel is drained for better inspection and repairs.
According to SOLAS, active ships that fall under the 100A5 category have to be subjected to a bottom survey twice every five years. Also, a merchant vessel, which is older than 15 years, needs to be checked for breaches or any defaults twice in every five years. In case of passenger ships, the repair period is every two years.
“Each ship working in service has to comply with a regular maintenance called dry docking, a regular, periodic overhauling process founded primarily because of the very special nature of ships’ environment which is under water operations. Dry-docking can cost hundreds of thousands U.S. dollars (sometimes millions) to maintain the ship in the standardised working condition.
“Dry-docking is a term used for repairs when a ship is taken to the service shipyard in the (dry dock). The ship is removed from the water to enable maintenance and inspection work to be performed on the exterior part of the ship that stays below the waterline. Usually, dry-docking is done at periodic intervals (generally three or five years), and there are regulations as mentioned above that mandate inspections of the ship’s bottom to be carried out at regular intervals to ensure safety of the vessels.
“Types of repairs vary widely according to many circumstances such as the operating environment and water reaction with the hull of a ship because of salt water reactions with steel, the hull thickness, the humidity and temperature effects on various parts of the ship, from the hull to the main engine, passing by the accommodation of the crew,” Friday said.
Efforts are on to calm frayed tempers between the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the members of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), following the shooting of an agent at Mile 2, Lagos.
After a peace meeting last week, between the NCS and ANLCA at Zone A, Federal Operations Unit in Ikeja, the Chairman of ANLCA, PTML Chapter, Otunba Sunday Oyebola, who led a delegation of his members and the wounded agent, Wale Balogun, said he was hopeful of an amicable resolution of the matter.
“We are here as a law-abiding body of professionals to resolve the issue with Nigeria Customs Service and we are making progress. As you can see, the young man who sustained injury was here with us and we have entered negotiation with customs to see how issues of short payment will be resolved. ANLCA, under our watch, will continue teaching our members to abide by the law as contained in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA). We are also interested in protecting our members while we train and retrain our members for our common good in the interest of our great country,” Oyebola said shortly after the meeting with the Customs hierarchy led by Assistant Comptroller Jack Ukpabi, Officer in Charge of Roving for Federal Operations Unit, Zone A.
Genesis
On Wednesday, last week, officers from the FoU Zone A, Ikeja, on patrol at the Mile 2 axis of the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, intercepted a 2019 Toyota RAV4 model. Although the vehicle was said to have been cleared from the PTML Port, upon checks by the officers, it was discovered that the Duty Paid Value (DPV) on it was under paid by as much as N3.5million. This led to argument between the agent and the Customs officers.
However, while held up in traffic, the agent was said to have called for support from his colleagues and miscreants who took back the car from the officer. This was said to have been corroborated by the agent at the meeting in the presence of his lawyer.
The officer was said to have shot the agent on his leg, a development which dispersed the crowd. The officer took the car to the FoU Zone A premises in Ikeja.
Is shooting an option
The question on stakeholders’ lips is whether it was right for the Customs officer to have shot the agent, an unarmed civilian.”I can tell you that the Customs officer acted in the best way,’’ a source said.
Prosecution
Further findings have since shown that it is not out of place for the NCS to treat or pay the medical bills of persons who sustain injury in the course of a face-off with its men. The Nation gathered from highly placed sources that the essence is to get such persons back to good health to face prosecution.
Truce
Unaware of the details of the incident, the body of clearing agents, ANLCA had threatened litigation against the NCS. However, at the Monday’s meeting, the body changed its war tune to that of peace. Listed as conditions for the truce to be considered is the clearing of the underpayment by the agent.
The Customs Public Relations Officer of the FoU, Theophilus Duniya, said it was an offence to either obstruct or attack officers on duty. He confirmed that the vehicle in question was in the unit’s custody.
Duniya said: “Preliminary investigation has shown that there was a short payment of over N3.5 million on the seized vehicle. Secondly, the agent has been found not to be a registered licensed Customs agent as widely reported. He was questioned at the FoU Unit headquarters in bandaged leg, in company of the ANLCA Chairman (PTML Chapter), an uncle and a lawyer. The injured man in his confessional statement confirmed that he and others snatched the vehicle from the officer that was taking it to the office before it was rearrested.”
Duniya cited enabling laws under which the agent may be prosecuted to fall under the following: criminal obstruction of officers on lawful duty and assault on officers, among others.
Faced with the reality of the NCS’plan to prosecute him and all those involved in the attack, Duniya said the suspect began to plead for mercy. “May I ask that would it have been better if the armed officer was killed or disarmed? Assuming he was disarmed, where would the riffle have been and used for?” he asked rhetorically.
Present at the meeting were Chairman, Apapa Chapter of ANLCA, Dr. Sylvester Budu; Vice Chairman PTML, Alhaji Lameen Aliyu, and Secretary, Chijioke Daniels.
Meanwhile, the NCS’ National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah, said the affected agent would be charged to court for alleged unlawful conduct.
He also said the service was investigating the owner of the licence used by the wounded man in the clearing of a 2019 model RAV 4 SUV.
“When they meet anti-smuggling operatives on the road and such documents are subjected to scrutiny, they find faults, the right thing to do is to intercept.
“Such person will still have the audacity to mobilise miscreants to come and attack law enforcement agents who are doing their legitimate duty. Even attempting to disarm them.
“The consequences of confronting an armed person and attempting to disarm him are always very grave. If, in the process, there is one form of injury or the other, you will see some people rise up to say, ‘Oh, the trigger-happy officer’. These officers are performing their statutory duties in the interest of the country.’
To curb the rising insecurity and proliferation of arms and ammunition across the country, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Transportation to reintroduce Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) at the port. In this report, OLUWAKEMI DAUDA writes on how the initiative can reduce banditry across the nation.
Barring last-minute changes, the Federal Government will soon reintroduce Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) at the seaports to help address the growing spate of banditry, kidnappings and restiveness fuelled by easy access to guns across the country.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has further directed the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to undertake the responsibility of administering CTN.
CTN
The CTN’s objective is the collection of documents and processing of information, when exporting by sea to obtain prior information, participation in security measures, statistics, and implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Customs Organisation’s (WCO) recommendations on trade facilitation and security.
Why the security measures?
The country has been besieged by violence and conflicts which have claimed thousands of lives and property, no thanks to kidnappers, armed robbers, sea pirates, political thugs, arms traffickers and the extremist group, Boko Haram.
Boko Haram has in the last 10 years killed over 25,000 people in Northeast, which include soldiers, women and children. These armed activities continue unabated, partly because of unchecked arms proliferation. These groups also use local arms, but their most sophisticated arms are imported, concealed and smuggled into the country via seaports and the porous land borders.
These tragic developments have given the impression that the nation’s security intelligence has either failed or is heavily compromised.This, therefore, calls for new approaches to taming the monsters casting a blight on the unity and progress of the country. To stakeholders in the industry and experts, the sorry security situation in the country demands that technology be deployed in.
Rise of illegal weapons
It is estimated that 70 per cent of over 10 million illegal weapons in circulation in West Africa are in the country. In this light, the directive by Buhari to reintroduce the CTN has been regarded as timely.
In Customs operations, activities of under declaration false declaration which lead to loss of revenue would also be curtailed with the reintroduction of CTN at the ports.
A senior Customs officer, who does not want his name in print, blamed Customs agents for the rot in the port.
“Although the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has made giant strides in recent years in terms of revenue collection, CTN will also assist the Service in eliminating loopholes in port operations as cases of false declaration and under declaration will become history.
“The need for 100 per cent physical examination and numerous interceptions by different Customs units, is a result of non-compliance by clearing agents and some unpatriotic importers. This, would, however, reduce with CTN in place and the Service could channel its efforts to more productive aspects of trade facilitation, revenue generation and anti-smuggling activities,’’ he said.
Arms and ammunition intercepted at port
In 2017, 2,671 pump-action rifles were intercepted at the seaports. The guns were registered for export in Turkey as pump-action rifles for hunting but the manifests were changed in Morocco to become steel doors to enable the container gain entry into Nigeria.
With CTN in place, security agencies in the country would have been able to see the original manifests from Turkey and intercept the guns before the ship berthed at the port.
Other countries using CTN
They include Angola, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana and Guinea.
Others are Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Togo.
What NSC says
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello, whose Council handles CTN describes the development as “another instrument that will add tremendous value to shipping development”.
“It will boost the revenue of the government in customs revenue collection in the sense that it will abate under – declaration and concealment. It will boost the revenue of NPA because there will be no more alteration of the manifests. It will boost the revenue of NIMASA because under – declaration of the weight of ships will not be there any longer,’’ he said.
Director of Education and Research, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Dr. Alban Igwe, said the CTN remained the best answer to security challenges as it would improve the security and safety of the supply chain, profiling cargoes coming into the country.
“The objective is to improve the security and safety of the supply chain and help us see the profile of products we are bringing in. It will help us know the origin and destination of cargoes and help us know our enemies,” he said.
CTN is also a veritable source of data; some economic experts describe it as the best quality of the electronic-based platform that can reduce insecurity/banditry, Igwe added.
Kaduna Inland Dry Port Limited (KIDPL) has the capacity to export goods to other ports in the country, its management have said.
Its said it could keep goods at its mega warehouse, provide empty containers, while the authorised agencies involved in export examination with pre shipment inspection agents would certify the exports before their onward transit to Apapa/Onne/Tin Can and other destinations on-board sailing vessel.
The General Manager of KIDPL, Rotimi O. Raimi Hassan, made this known during its Export Forum at KIDPL Conference in Kaduna.
According to Hassan, the primary objective of establishing inland dry ports is to decongest Lagos’ seaports and bring shipping to the doorsteps of hinterland shippers, transact business and use the dry port platform to either clear their import or forward export without interface with Onne/Lagos seaports.
He said: “The Federal Government is taking export as part of revenue generation by encouraging people to diversify into export business and use it as avenue to balance our international trade so that Nigeria will not solely dependent on crude oil export.
“However, Nigeria is blessed with so many natural resources, yet untapped, and this is the time for us to have a rethink and explore into export trade business which the overhead cost is minimal.
“The Nigerian Railway Corporation has indicated its readiness to commence rail haulage after test running of the rail lines from Zaria to Jebba and Lagos to Jebba. We are hopeful that export will be sealed here by Customs with other agencies authorised at KIDP.
“With these, I assure you that the hindrances faced in export logistics will be eliminated. The northern exporters will smile and enjoy the dividend of the government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Kaduna Inland Dry port, gazetted on May 25, 2015 as port of origin for export forwarding and a port of destination for import consignments, was inaugurated by President Buhari.
Hassan advised stakeholders to ask questions to enable them clarify things to have more information on how to handle their export processing at Kaduna inland dry port.
The event, which was chaired by Comptroller Abubakar Sanusi Daburan, who conveyed his assurance and support for export processing and delivery from KIDPL, was also attended by Deputy Comptroller Muasu; Assistant Director, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, representative of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, O/C, SON, Quarantine, NAFDAC, Federal Produce, DSS, Representative of Angelia International Services Limited, the Pre shipment inspection agent, and other notable stakeholders.
The Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has the mandate for training and certifying seafarers. In this report, OLUWAKEMI DAUDA looks at how the agency has been able to develop indigenous capacity of seafarers to boost the economy.
Shipping is vital to economic development. It contributes over 90 per cent to the world’s economy. There are about 51,400 merchant ships all over the world, transferring goods between places, thereby keeping economies running.
Whether it is oil from the Gulf or iPhones in containers being delivered from one part of the world to another, everything is running round the clock, with precision and diligence that will promote business activities.
But who are those responsible for these robust activities? While the shipbrokers, the charterers and the owners take care of the financial aspects backing the viability of the trade, the seafarers are the ones executing it in real life aspects. The trade is only so good when the product is delivered safe and promptly to the receiver, and seafarers, Sundays or public holidays, notwithstanding. Seafarers do not understand the concept, neither could they be allowed to do so because someone, somewhere, is in need of a product that must be delivered clean.
Also, nations are fuelled by gas and to make it clearer, the shortage of oil supply because of a stalled ship can cause a very big crisis
The job of seafarers involves years of rigorous training in mastering the aspects of navigation, cargo work and ship operations and the daily precise application of it.
Ships carry more than 90 per cent of the world’s trade and these ships are manned and operated by seafarers. Hence, it can be safely said that seafarers are serving 90 per cent of mankind’s need.
Experts believe that with the recent advancements in technology wherein ships are gradually moving towards being unmanned, this could be deemed as a threat to the seafaring profession.
While it might affect the profession in some way, leading practitioners are optimistic that the years of theoretical knowledge, practical applications, and experience at sea can never be replaced by machines.
The sea and winds, they argued, do not follow the predicted patterns, adding that the human angle to shipping will always be invaluable.
However, as critical as seafarers are to the economy, the practitioners are often treated shabbily by ship-owners who mostly employ them. There is a gradual shit, however, as concerned stakeholders make moves to ensure adequate welfare of seafarers.
To ensure sanity in the relationship between ship owners and seafarers, the Federal Government recently threatened to sanction ship owners who default in the implementation of the contributory pension scheme for seafarers.
Steps taken by Jamoh
Findings revealed that NIMASA has embarked on the periodic review of its training policies and guidelines to make them more relevant and functional.
The agency is also evaluating training interventions to know whether or not the objectives had been achieved to improve them, among others.
To improve seafarers’ welfare, the Federal Government has announced that there are policies in the pipeline to improve the quality of training and certification, as well as remuneration for seafarers.
Director-General, NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, made this known in Lagos.
According to him, “Policies are in the pipeline to improve the quality of training and certificates we give to the seafarers. We are taking steps to standardise the curriculum of our training institutions in line with international standards. We are also working on increasing the remuneration of our seafarers. These policies would be announced as soon as we complete work on them.”
He said seafarers were among the most courageous people in the world, stressing that the theme for this year’s Day of the Seafarer, ‘Seafarers are key workers,’ is a “testament to the fact that the world cannot do without seafarers. Seafarers hold the key to humanity’s survival on a day-to-day basis. They hold the key to our wellbeing during the first and second wave of COVID-19 period.
“The seafarers are unsung heroes, they are also our invisible heroes. We see their handwork every day and everywhere in agricultural machinery, the food we eat, and the unbroken run of the manufacturing base, despite the global lockdown,” he said.
The DG spoke on the challenges faced by seafarers amid the coronavirus pandemic, including stringent work conditions in some countries, movement restrictions, lockdowns, crew change difficulties, fatigue and seasickness, and disruption of contracts.
He said: “As a regulator, we have taken steps to alleviate the suffering of the seafarers. NIMASA was among the first government agencies to declare seafarers as being on essential duty, and we published this in a marine notice. We also issued COVID-19 guidelines to incoming ships towards ensuring that there is no importation of the virus by sea.
“NIMASA was the first in West Africa to issue a COVID-19 marine notice. We challenged ship-owners and employers of seafarers to take necessary proactive measures to lessen the pains of seafarers. We also walked in lockstep with the IMO to tailor all our marine notices in the early period of COVID-19 towards supporting the extension of the validity of seafarers’ certificates, crew change, guidelines, procedure and their designation as essential workers.”
According to Jamoh, “It is said that a good sailor weathers the storm he cannot avoid; COVID-19 was a storm Seafarers couldn’t avoid. As tried and tested seamen and women, our seafarers have continued to weather this storm for us. We celebrate you today. Nigeria thanks you, the world appreciates you, NIMASA as a regulator, will never abandon you. We will support you all the way.”
Marginalisation
Meanwhile, seafarers have decried what they described as marginalisation by foreign shipping lines and Nigeria LNG Limited in preference for their counterpart in other countries with less qualification.
This, they said, was despite the massive investment in seafarers’ development by the Federal Government championed by NIMASA.
According to them, the discrimination, formerly popular among foreign companies, has become evident in Nigeria with several indigenous companies, including the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), a liquefied natural gas (LNG) producing company where the Federal Government is a shareholder.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, a seafarer, Daniel Ikueyemi, said the poor feedback mechanism at NIMASA has deprived the agency of the true impact of the investment in seafarers’ development.
Ikueyemi lamented that most seafarers trained under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) are on the verge of having their Certificates of Competence (CoC) expire, “yet many have no resources to renew it because they never had an opportunity of going on board vessels even for a day’’.
“NLNG rejects seafarers with Nigerian CoCs. NLNG is a company in which the nation has shares. If this certificate doesn’t have value in our country and organisations like NLNG reject it, there is no need talking about acceptability of this certificate around the globe. There is no point wasting our time on that, “he said.
Ikueyemi proposed that NIMASA creates a seafarers’ desk at the agency to receive valuable information and experiences of seafarers, especially on practices onboard vessels.
According to him, this can be an avenue to enable the agency to resolve the numerous problems associated with seafaring, as “NIMASA would better capture seafarers’ experiences.”
His words: “NIMASA shouldn’t allow their resources to be wasted because that is what happens when the seafarers aren’t engaged. The duration of CoC is five years and it becomes useless if one doesn’t utilise it during that time frame to boost the economy.”
Stakeholders have demanded the report of the investigation by the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on the recent barge accident which occurred along KLT/Mile 2/Maza Maza water channel where over N500 million worth of electronics in six 40ft containers sank.
The stakeholders, which comprises six groups, noted that the accident was caused by the negligence of the government agencies saddled with licensing, regulation and supervision of barges.
The President, Shippers’ Association, Lagos State (SALS), Dr. Jonathan Nicol, who spoke on behalf of groups, said proper licensing and regulation of the barge and jetty operators and its related operations could not be over emphasised.
He added that it is criminal attending to regulatory obligations with gross nonchallant and negligence or without utmost good faith at all times.
According to Nicol, “It has been reported that over one million TEUs and more than 10,000 trucks have been moved via barges in the last three years. Agreeably, it could be said that in the recent times, without the intervention of barge operations amid the reported ailing port congestion, chaotic port access roads, the corrupt practices therein among others, the port situation would have been compounded.
“Notwithstanding the prevalent situation, it is not a leeway or a suggestion that barge operations should thrive on the premise of carefree and negligence nor professionalism jettisoned nor operational abuses, impurities, high handedness condoned or regulatory obligations compromised at will,” he said.
He noted that the association has established the following: many unlicensed and unregulated operators in the barge sector, regulatory negligence and lapses, non-compliance to standards, interagency supremacy tussle caused by overlapping functions of the regulators and absence of a standby emergency rapid salvage rescue team during accidents or emergencies.
“In this case, stakeholders folded their hands and watched helplessly as the containers drifted into the bottom deep. To sum it up, there was no cohesive, restructured and practicable regulatory architecture for the barge operations prior to the commencement of barge/jetty operations, whereby professionalism, safety and security concerns was never a driving force rather profit making is the core driving force.
“At this juncture, we imagine the huge loss and pains the cargo owners are going through on an operational hazard that is avoidable but because someone sitting on an executive position allowed administrative laxity to thrive in a delicate and sensitive industry engagements. In a sane environment, someone would have voluntarily resigned from office for failing in his duties but it is not so in an atmosphere where corrupt practices thrives and even the perpetrators go unpunished or unsanctioned rather, they are celebrated and reckoned with in operation,” Nicol said.
He therefore demanded for compensation for the cargo owners, stating that the situation leading to the loss of cargo is not theirs.
“The operational arrangement was skewed against them, the non-firm supervision and monitoring by the agencies of the government is not their fault as they relied on the leadership to safeguard their investment. Regulatory objectives and administration failed them.
The three agencies mentioned for their overlapping functions are under one control and ministry, Ministry of Transport. We therefore request Ministry of Transport to direct for the immediate compensation for all losses incurred by the affected shippers.
“We demand that the heads of the three agencies vested with these regulatory responsibilities namely; NPA, NIWA and NIMASA should resign forthwith. Above all, the transport ministry should step up its supervisory roles in the port operations.”
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, will tomorrow lead eggheads and other stakeholders in the country’s oil and gas industry to brainstorm on critical industry issues at the 2021 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (OLEF).
The lecture series, which holds in Abuja, has as its theme: “Operational Excellence and Portfolio Optimisation: Way forward for the Oil and Gas Industry Post COVID-19”, will also have in attendance the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, who is expected to deliver the keynote address on industry operations.
Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum, according to the Chairman of SPE, Nigeria Council, Mr. Olatunji Akinwunmi, is an annual lecture series focused on contributing to oil and gas policies development for Nigeria in commemoration of the first oil-well drilled in Nigeria by Shell Darcy at Oloibiri, in Ogbia, Bayelsa State, in 1956. The annual lecture series attracts participation from the government, regulatory agencies, and heads of industry practitioners at all levels, as well as other key stakeholders from around Africa. The inaugural edition of SPE Nigeria Council’s Annual Oloibiri Lecture Series & Energy Forum was held in June 1991.
Speaking ahead of the event, Akinwunmi, said the event will hold both physically and virtually, with the greater percentage of the participants billed to join online in adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines. He added that the programme has been structured in two major sections comprising the Energy Forum and the Lecture Series, adding the council had invited 10 speakers to delivered highly illuminating papers on the various sub-topics.
“OLEF 2021 is an open hybrid event that requires no paid registration. A few invited individuals and SPE committee members are expected to make up the in-person participants. All stakeholders in the energy industry; operators of JV, regulatory and government, production sharing contractors, independent operators, finance and insurance industry players, the academia and many more are free to attend online or in-person as their invitation indicates,” Akinwunmi said.
The theme will be discussed along the following perspectives: Industry – Government – Academia partnership: articulating the individual roles each stakeholder is required to play as well as establishing a strategic collaboration and partnership that enables industry-wide operational excellence and portfolio optimisation.”
Other areas to be discussed at the event included developing competencies in regulation; assuring safety and sustainability and reducing the overall costs of doing business through competence in regulation; adjusting operational models to reduce cost and capture value by reevaluating operational strategies such that short term cost improvements are balanced with long term change and value realisation, among others.
Dwindling ship traffic and the huge number of overtime cargoes at the Lagos ports have become worrisome to stakeholders who have urged the Federal Government to find a solution to the challenges, OLUWAKEMI DAUDA reports
How cargoes traffic at the seaports have been traced to the failure of the government to fashion a policy that will support the ongoing efforts by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in finding a lasting solution to factors inhibiting new imports
Lack of clear policy by the government, lack of space and the huge number of overtime cargoes in the port have been identified by the stakeholders who spoke with The Nation in separate interviews.
An analyst, Mr Felix Anderson, said the value of intra-Africa’s merchandise trade, put at $159.1 billion by the United Nations Conference on Trade (UNCTAD), should be seen as a wake-up call to the Federal Government to do something.
The intra-Africa’s merchandise trade, he said, accounts for 16.1 per cent of the world trade.
“Of the value, Nigeria’s contribution to intra-African trade merchandise was 6.8 per cent or 10.81 billion due to some challenges at the seaports, leaving a huge market gap to be explored,” he said.
Also, a maritime lawyer, Dr Dipo Alaka, said unless the Federal Government implements some of the policies that can facilitate trade at the port, the low cargo traffic may continue till the third quarter of the year and affect the implementation of the 2021 budget.
“Of 726 ships were registered under the Nigerian flag, while 400 vessels were captured by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), 265 ships owned by Nigerians were carrying foreign flags, making the deadweight of the Nigerian owned ships with foreign flags put at 6.485million tonnes compared to those carrying Nigeria’s flag, which was put at 4.526 million tonnes.
“Therefore, unless the government addresses some of the challenges facing the sector, the revenue from the port may drop significantly,’’ the don added.
NPA’s concern
Worried by the dwindling ship traffic and volume of cargoes at ports in 2020, the Managing Director Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman, said the ports had been filled with huge overtime cargoes, thereby inhibiting new imports.
She said lack of deep seaports, high cost of tariff and policies of the government on some banned products had affected the ports.
For example, the Managing Director said the volumes of cargo handled at the nation’s seaports dropped to 78.4 million metric tonnes in 2020 from 80.2 million metric tonnes recorded in 2019, representing a decline of 2.24 per cent.
According to her, the ports also recorded a decline in ship traffic, noting that a total of 3,972 ships called in 2020 as against 4,251 in 2019.
She said: “In 2020, the nation’s busiest port, Apapa Port received 632,148 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) of container traffic compared to 668,672 TEUs received in 2019. For the nation’s second busiest port, Tin Can Island Port, 650,365 TEUs of containers arrived at the port in 2020 compared to 820,942 TEUs of containers in 2019.
“For Onne port, 266,109 TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 247,528 TEUs in 2019. In Rivers port, 91,971 TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 71,020 TEUs in 2019. At Calabar port, 1,561TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 174 in 2019. Delta port suffered a dip in container traffic in 2020 with 1,224 TEUs compared to the 6,827 TEUs it recorded in 2019. In total, the number of container traffic that came to Nigerian ports was 1,643,378 TEUs compared to the 1,815,163 TEUs received in 2019.”
Ship traffic
For some vessels, which called at the Apapa port, the managing director explained that 986 ships called last year compared to 1,034 vessels previous year, saying that at Tin Can port, 1,127 ships called in 2020, while 1,311 vessels called in 2019.
Also, she explained that the ports received 3,972 ships with a Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 125.13million compared to the 4,251 ships that called in 2019 with a gross tonnage of 138.57million.
In terms of cargo throughput, the managing director added that the authority had 78.4 million metric tonnes in 2020, while the nation recorded 80.2 million metric tonnes in 2019.
However, she stressed that the improvement in container traffic recorded at Onne Port was as a result of the deepening of the port channel and huge investment in cargo handling equipment by the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT).
But the Vice-President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Dr Kayode Farinto, noted that the country is overdue for a national fleet that would properly position it in the comity of maritime nations.
The national fleet implementation, according to him,”is long overdue, therefore, the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr Bashir Jamoh need to work with other critical stakeholders to ensure that the national fleet is restored to its past glory so that the country can be reckoned with in the comity of nations.
Engaging the CBN
What is more is for the heads of the maritime agencies to engage the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and negotiate for one-digit interest rate for ship owners to assist in the acquisition of maritime assets; cooperating with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, and supporting the sector in capacity building to boost government revenue.
