The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • IMO warns on GPS reset 

    The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has urged maritime users of the Global Positioning System Standard Positioning Service (GPS-SPS) to check their systems ahead of the counter roll over.

    Some outdated GPS receiver systems may cease to function properly with serious impacts on navigation.

    The roll over occurs because the GPS system transmits time to GPS receivers, using the format of time and weeks as 10-bit value, which started on January 6, 1980 and can only count 1,023 weeks.

    Read also: Stakeholders identify threats to maritme security

    The previous roll over occurred on August 21, 1999, when systems reset and began counting towards week 1,023 again. When the GPS system reaches week 1,024, the system will revert to week zero.

    Some GPS receivers are known to be unable to make the transition from week 1,023 to 1,024. If the GPS receiver is outdated or has not been properly updated, the receiver will revert to reading the week zero as August 1999.

    The internal clocks of these GPS receivers will experience lack of absolute reference and may give the wrong time and position or may lock up permanently. Some of these GPS receivers are repairable with upgrades and others will become unusable.

  • Nigerian, Korean Customs collaborate

    korean Customs officials and a few consultants have completed a training tour of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its operations in Abuja and Lagos.

    The training, which covered areas, such as modernisation, E-customs and risk management, among other areas of operations, aimed at sharing the Korean experience with their Nigerian counterpart.

    Leader of the delegation, Yeon Don Kim, told the Controllers of Customs at Murtala Mohammed Airport and Apapa Commands that the visiting team had spent three weeks at the Information  and Communication Technology (ICT) Department of the Service at the Abuja Headquarters before coming to Lagos.

    Areas visited included the Airport cargo handling section, Nigeria Breweries Factory, Apapa Customs Processing Centre, Don Climax Bonded Terminal and Lekki Free Zone.

    At the Apapa Command, the Area Controller in charge, Mohammed Abba-Kura, said efforts were in top gear to sustain customs’ operations and stakeholder’s compliance with extant imports and exports guidelines.

    He said the command resorted to physical examination of cargoes as a result of the failure of the scanner, while explaining the template on which imports and some consignments are profiled.

    According to him, since there are no traders enjoying Authorised Economic Operators (AEOs) benefits in Nigeria presently, compliant traders profiled to be on fast track were placed on the blue lane and those selected by the system as compliant were on the green lane.

    According to Abba-Kura, those on the blue and green lanes were people or organisations found to have built integrity through compliance over some period of time

    Other categories, he explained, include Light Red indicating scanning; Deep Red, Physical Examination and Yellow for consignments, requiring documentary checks.

    While conducting the Korean delegation round the Customs Processing Centre (CPC), Abba-Kura explained how modernisation has improved its standards from when it was called the Long Room to its present evolving and improving ICT supported state.

    Under the present ICT-driven regime, the Apapa Area Controller said licensed customs agents and importers could make lodgements of their entries from the comfort of their offices electronically.

    The system, according to him, is evolving to achieve faster and more seamless operations in the import process to minimise human contacts and achieve increased output, more revenue, time saving and better security.

    On manifest collection and processing, Abba-Kura said the customs receives manifest electronically before embarking on what he described as ‘boarding and rummaging’.

    He added that the boarding and rummaging activities entail customs officers going on board the vessel to compare and confirm information supplied on the manifest with what is on board of the ship.

    Airport Command Controller, Jane Shoboiki,  explained the speed and sensitive manner with which perishable imports are taking through at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos, adding that revenue collection and trade facilitation are key components of her command’s work without compromising national security and interest.

    Shoboiki took them through NAHCO and SAHCOL operational areas where she gave insights into cargo handling and processing at the airport.

    She also explained security measures put in place to prevent and detect smuggling of any kind at the inbound and outbound passenger areas.

    Murtala Mohammed Airport, according to her, handles Nigeria’s highest number of air cargoes and maintains high operational standards, striving to meet with and sustain expected quality of operations.

    Lagos Industrial Command Area Controller, Comptroller Dangana Lot, led the team to the Iganmu factory of Nigeria Breweries Plc, which is one of it’s highest excise duty paying outfit. At the factory, the team witnessed, on first hand basis, the manufacturing process and how customs oversees the production process to ascertain accurate excise duty collection.

    At a private bonded terminal, Don Climax Bonded Terminal, aimed at preventing port congestion and facilitating trade, it was disclosed that about N2.2 billion was said to have been realised at the terminal in 2018.

    Containers are brought into this terminal under escort for duty payment through transire, a shipping document designating the consignment to be cleared at different ports or terminals other than the port of arrival.

    According to the Terminal Manager, Ajibade Sherriff, Customs compares what is declared with what is actually in the cargoes, adding that the terminal has an online connection to Nigeria Customs Information System 2 (NCIS II) with over a hundred trucks used in conveying the containers from the port.

    Sheriff added that there is a gate control where accurate inventory of consignment coming in and out are recorded in a completely automated process.

    He also said despite being the owner of the terminal, Don Climax does not have absolute control of container and cargo movement in and out of the facility.

    He said the company’s processes are transparent as containers moving from mother ports to the terminal are escorted by the Federal Operations Unit of the service under bond.

    He added that no consignment exits it’s facility without first being exited by customs in its electronically controlled NICIS11 platform.

  • Our plan for Africa, by Dakuku

    The Association of African Maritime Administration (AAMA) is commited to building a competitive maritime sector on the continent through continuous engagements and ideas sharing, its Chairman, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has said.

    Peterside, who spoke during the third session of the Executive Council (EXCO) of the association at the Farah Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, said there was the need for concerted efforts by the various maritime administrations in Africa to compete favourably with their counterparts on other continents.

    Its Chairman, who is also Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director-General, noted that the choice of the various countries in the EXCO was to ensure geographical spread, thereby making sure every region is well represented.

    A statement by NIMASA’s Head of Corporate Communication, Isichei Osamgbi, expressed Peterside’s optimism in building a viable African maritime industry that will compete with other continents.

    Peterside in the statement said: “I beckon on you all to note that our primary aim of coming here is to continue to uphold the tenets of the African Maritime Transport Charter (AMTC) to improve, among others, the capacity, capability and performance of Africa’s maritime administrations and the maritime/shipping sector with great emphasis on human resources development, technology and information sharing.”

    He enjoined participants to make valuable contributions to the course of promoting the African maritime administration as this will help to achieve set goals for the body in Africa. “Let me assure you that we will not relent in our efforts to build competitive and vibrant maritime and shipping sector and to give Africa a voice among the comity of maritime nations as Africa is our hope for sustainable growth,” he said.

    Peterside also expressed delight and optimism that the meeting will yield results and proffer way forward to actualising AMTC.

    The AAMA Executive Council is made up of representatives of Central Africa (Cameroun, Cape Verde), West Africa (Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana), East Africa (Tanzania and Comoros), Southern Africa (Mozambique and South Africa), North Africa (Egypt and Sudan) and Uganda, representing land-locked countries. The meeting had in attendance executive council members from Cape Verde, Ghana, Tanzania, Comoros, Mozambique, South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Uganda and Nigeria.

    It would be recalled that in 2017, Peterside was elected AAMA Chairman during the 3rd conference of the body in Nigeria. In 2018, he was elected to continue his tenure as Chairman during the 4th AAMA Conference in Egypt because of the visibility his leadership has given AAMA globally. The 3rd Session of EXCO will focus on several issues that will continue to drive AAMA’s vision, ambition and strategy for the sustainable development of Africa’s Maritime Domain.

  • Maritime varsity coming

    The Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) has opened talks with its francophone-member countries to upgrade its Abidjan-based Regional Maritime Academy (RMA) for Sciences and Technologies of the Sea to a Maritime University.

    This decision was reached at the just-concluded 12th Board of Governors’meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

    The Academy in Abidjan is MOWCA ‘s ‘specialised organ’ for training of seafarers and land- based staff of shipping line for the 15francophone-member states of MOWCA.

    Read also: Stakeholders identify threats to maritme security

    If the upgrade is implemented, it will bring the Academy to the same level as the sister training institution for anglophone countries, RMA, based in Accra, Ghana

    Sources at the meeting said the  sea training of cadets, which has been problematic for a long time, and the huge amount of arrears of contributions from member countries,  which amount to 1.2 billion cfa, were discussed as areas to start the upgrading.

    The process of transforming RMA into a university, according to the source, requires more input from other ministers as only two out of eight expected were present at the meeting.

    It was agreed that a consultant would be appointed by the management of RMA to conduct a broad study on sea training of cadets on board vessels sailing in the Gulf of Guinea.

     

  • NPA may convert Lilypond Terminal to truck park

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) may convert Lilypond Terminal at Ijora to a trailer park in a bid to ease the gridlock  on Apapa Ports roads.

    The roads lead to the Tin Can Island and Apapa Ports, the nation’s busiest terminals.

    In a chat with The Nation during a facility tour by the NPA board, its General Manager, Public Affairs, Adams Jatto, said the idea was mooted to address the Apapa traffic crises.

    It may, however, spark controversy because the NPA last September 1 awarded a fresh five-year development concession of the Lilypond Terminal to APM Terminal after the expiration of its 2006 concession.

    Details of the new arrangement remain unknown.

    Read also: Apapa gridlock takes toll on cashew

    Jatto said: “Lilypond Container Terminal was erroneously concessioned ab initio because the said terminal does not have a water front for loading and offloading of cargo. Consequently, after the expiration of the lease, the terminal was however reclassified and granted a five-year development lease.”

    The authority, he said, would soon begin work at the terminal to ascertain the number of trucks it can take. NPA, Jatto added, would adopt an orderly electronic call up system for the parking of trucks at the terminal before they go to the ports for loading.

    The NPA generated N565,142,063.36 and N560,734,047 from the leasing of the facility in 2017 and 2018 when it was not concessioned.

    Clearing agents at the terminal had complained of about 300 job loss due to the idle state of the facility and accused APMT of doing nothing about the influx of containers.

  • Firm acquires pipelay vessel for heavy duty work

    Nigerstar 7, a maritime operator in the oil and gas sector, has acquired the pipelay vessel Seven Antares. The vessel will provide the firm and Nigeria a fully-owned versatile equipment ideal for conventional, heavy-lifting and hook-up projects.

    The Seven Antares, built in 2009, has a 300t main crane capacity. It is a 120t S-lay vessel with capacity to lay pipe of up to 60-inch diameter; with an accommodation area in excess of 330 berths and a deck area of over 1300m².

    With the acquisition of the equipment, NigerStar 7 has strengthened its fleet, showing its commitment to the development of the offshore oil and gas industry.

    Read also: Tin Can receives 213 vessels

    Sales & Marketing Director of NigerStar 7, Derek Izedonmwen said: “The Seven Antares acquisition is a very important milestone for us. I’m deeply proud of this investment, as it reinforces NigerStar 7 commitment to invest in Nigeria through the acquisition of strategic local assets and to continue to invest and to develop our people. The Seven Antares is currently laying pipe for one of our clients and I’m sure she will be kept busy supporting the growth of Nigeria’s energy industry.”

  • ‘No feud among Customs chiefs’

    There is no in-fighting in the top echelon of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), says the Chairman, Ogbese Marine Services Limited, Prince Olusegun Ologbese.

    Ologbese’s assertion came on the heels of insinuations in some quarters that officers and men of the NCS, especially those within Zone ‘A’ which has its headquarters on Harvey, Road, Yaba, Lagos have been locked in a supremacy contest in the discharge of their statutory roles and responsibilities.

    Speaking with reporters in Lagos, Ologbese stated that it was incorrect to say that Customs chiefs in Lagos have been locking horns over some seizures.

    Ologbese explained that the Surveillance Team of the Federal Operation Unit (FOU) of the NCS, on the directive of the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Aliyu Muhammed, had gone to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command (MMIA), Lagos to seize donkey skin said to be worth N7.2 billion.

    According to the Ogbese Marine Services Limited helmsman, FOU is an overall enforcement unit of the NCS which can strike anywhere in Nigeria. The Customs Area Controller at the MMIA Customs Command, Comptroller Jane Shoboki, is a very experienced Customs officer who knows these facts and would not have raised an eye brow on the issue as being claimed in some quarters. I am sure she has not violated the rules of engagement, otherwise, Customs Headquarters; Abuja would have directed that she should be arrested. As far as I am concerned, no one should lose sleep over the erroneous claims, he said.

    Read also: Customs intercepts 12,720 smuggled bags of rice

    He further stated that no NCS officer worth his salt would dabble into anything that would taint the reputation and image of the service. The consequences of doing so are too grave to contemplate if such a person is caught by the numerous layers of checks and counter checks put in place since Colonel Ahmed Alli (retd) became the Comptroller General of the NCS, Ologbese said.   

    He commended Ali for the strides the NCS had made since his appointment, pointing out that with the support and co-operation of stakeholders, more would be achieved in the months ahead, especially in revenue generation, anti-smuggling and trade facilitation.

    He averred that the harmonious relationship among the various commands of the NCS in Zone ‘A’ and other stakeholders in the maritime industry, especially licensed customs agents and terminal operators have helped in no small way to ensure that the service actualise its mandate as a para-military organisation.

  • PTML Customs makes N36.7b

    The Ports Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) Command of the Nigeria Customs Service made N36,728,799,903 in the first quarter of the year.

    The collected figure is 43 per cent higher than the N25,656,118,181 recorded between January and March 2018 by the command.

    According to a statement made available by the Customs Public Relations Officer for the Command, Mohammed Yakubu, it shows a difference of N11,072,681,722 between last first quarter 2018 and 2019 collections.

    A breakdown of the monthly collections, according to the statement, indicates that N14,850,154,616 was collected in January 2019, which is 49 per cent higher than N9,967,751,491 collected same period in 2018.

    Read also: Customs seizes smuggled items worth N10.6b

    In February 2019 the command collected N10,024,673,259 which is 38 per cent higher than N7,267,306,206 collected in February 2018.

    In March, N11,853,972,028 was collected. The March figure is 41 percent higher than N8,421,060,484  collected same period last year.

    Yakubu said the increase in revenue was due to higher cargo throughput and diligence on the part of the command’s operatives.

  • Tin Can receives 213 vessels

    The Port Manager, Tin-Can Island Port (TCIP), Lagos, Emmanuel Akporherhe, has said the port received 213 ships with 6.77 million tonnes of goods in the first quarter of the year.

    He made this known while welcoming the board members of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), led by its Chairman, Emmanuel Adesoye, last Friday.

    The Tin-Can Island Port was inagurated on October 11, 1977, to address the increase in the volume of imports and exports brought about by the oil boom in the 70s, and the post-civil war reconstruction era.

    Urging the board to support the port with more funds to enable it carry out some renovations, Akporherhe commended the efforts of the Managing Director, Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman and her team, in drawing the Federal Government’s attention to the plight of users of the Oshodi-Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway, which he noted was critical to the port business.

    Read also: Tin Can receives 213 vessels

    Responding, Adesoye said the NPA board visited Lagos ports to assess the impact of the traffic gridlock on port operations. “The solution to the gridlock is currently being addressed although there are few roads and there is also the need to create more roads,” Adesoye said.

    He assured that when the railway system becomes operational, together with the concrete road construction of Mile 2–Tin-Can Road– Oworonshoki Road, the problem of gridlock on ports access roads would be a thing of the past.

    He also praised the introduction of barges at the Tin-Can Port, Ikorodu Lighter Terminal and Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, saying it was reducing pressure on ports access roads. According to him, the availability of an operational rail system and functional barges would ease the incessant gridlock to a large extent if not completely.

    Adesoye said that the Federal and Lagos State Governments had commenced the construction of Lekki Deep seaport to enable bigger vessels call at the port.

    Other places visited during the tour were, JosepDam Ports Service Nigeria Ltd. ENL Consortium, Apapa Bulk Terminal, Five Star Logistics, Flour Mills of Nigeria Limited, and APM Terminal.

    However, at the APM Terminal, the NPA board members were not allowed in by the company.  An official of the firm at the entrance  said to nobody in particular: “we were not informed of their coming so how are we to know they will be here?”

  • 213 ships berth at Tin-Can Port in Q1 of 2019

    Tin-Can Island Port (TCIP) in Lagos received a total of 213 ships with 6.77 million tonnes of goods in the first quarter of this year, the Port Manager, Emmanuel Akporherhe, has said.

    Receiving the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) led by its Chairman, Emmanuel Adesoye, Akporherhe said the major challenge facing the port was traffic gridlocks.

    He commended the persistent efforts of the Managing Director, Hadiza Bala-Usman and her team, in drawing Federal Government’s attention to the terrible condition of the Oshodi -Apapa-Oworonshoki expressway.

    According to him, Tin-Can Island Port was commissioned on Oct. 11, 1977 to address the increase in volume of imports and exports brought about by the oil boom in the 70s and the post-civil war reconstruction era.

    Akporherhe urged the board to support the port with more funds to enable it carry out some renovations in the port complex.

    Responding, Adesoye said that the NPA board visited Lagos ports to assess the impact of the traffic gridlocks on port operations.

    “The solution to the gridlock is currently being addressed although there are few roads and there is also the need to create more roads,” Adesoye said.

    He said that by the time the railway system is operational together with the concrete construction of Mile 2 – Tin-Can Road – Oworonshoki road, the problem of gridlock on ports access roads would be reduced.

    The board chairman said that the introduction of the use of barges at the Tin-Can Port, Ikorodu Lighter Terminal and Kirikiri Lighter Terminal was drastically reducing pressure on port access roads.

    He said that availability of operational rail system and functional barges would also solve the problem of constant gridlock to a large extent if not eliminate it completely.

    Adesoye said that the Federal and Lagos State Government has commenced the construction of Lekki Deep seaport to enable bigger vessels call at the port.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the board visited, among others, JosepDam Ports Service Nigeria Ltd. ENL Consortium, Apapa Bulk Terminal, Five Star Logistics and APM Terminal.

    NAN reports that officials of the APM Terminals, however, shut their doors against the visiting NPA board members by not disallowed them from entering their offices (NAN)