The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • Freight forwarders hail call for auto duty reduction

    THE All Ports Unified Freight Forwarders Practitioners Association has commended the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col Hameed Ali (rtd) for calling for the reduction of duty and levy on imported used vehicles.

    It urged the government to put in place equal duty on all vehicles to discourage fairly used vehicles import.

    The Federal Government had put  35 per cent duty and levy on brand new cars, making importers to pay a total of 70 percent of the cost of a new car.

    The association’s President, Prince Mike Okorie, noted that equal duty and levy would discourage shippers from importing vehicles under the guise of importing tokunbo or fairly used ones.

    He said with this policy in place, importation of used vehicles would stop and Nigerians  be forced to buy new cars.

    Okorie added that Nigeria had become a dumping ground for used vehicles and that the government could only control this when it put in place policies that would discourage their importation.

    “Importers have devised a means of importing accidental vehicles into Nigeria and after that, put them in place and sell. It is a bad practice that must be discouraged.

    “I must commend the CG of Customs on this development, but we don’t have car-manufacturing companies in Nigeria.

    “Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Company is the only firm that assembles cars, but how many cars can the company produce in a day?” he queried.

    He therefore called on the government to address the problem of vehicle manufacturing to stop the importation of fairly used ones.

    Okorie urged the Customs boss to address the issue of multiple check- points by officers and men of the NSC, saying the practice militates against trade facilitation.

  • TinCan Customs settles 87 cases

    THE Tin Can Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has cleared about 87 cases since the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) was set up last year.

    Its spokesman, Uche Ejesieme, told reporters, at the weekend, of the Command’s determination to facilitate trade in line with the government’s ease-of-doing-Business objectives.

    Controller of the command, Abdullahi Baba Musa, Ejesieme added, would ensure that consignments were not delayed.

    He quoted Musa as saying that disputes from valuation, classification and Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) would be resolved within six hours.

    The command, he said, would leverage technology, particularly enhanced automation of operation, synergy with stakeholders and emphasis on ease of doing business, to boost government revenue. He added that smuggling or duty evasion would be prevented and perpetrators prosecuted

    “We are committed to contributing to the economic growth and competiveness through Trade Facilitation and Ease of Doing Business Initiative of the Federal Government, by making Customs process and procedures more efficient, to enable lower transaction cost for Business, as well as achieve competiveness in Economic productivity, growths and improving the standard of living in the Country.

    ‘’We are to provide coordinating role in Ease of Doing Business Initiative,” he stated, pointing out that as part of trade facilitation, the Command would work on the 48- hour Cargo Clearance Time vision.

    “We have, therefore, deployed the ‘Time Release Studies as performance indicator to guide our performance.

    “We are deploying software to handle the remaining part of the Export Procedures. It will enable records of non-oil export, agriculture and others.

    “We shall keep blocking all revenue leakages to collect appropriate duties and meet our target.  NICIS II is an upgrade of NICIS I with more efficient and functional capabilities to enable quick cargo clearances, thereby reducing transaction cost,” Ejesieme assured.

  • Clean-up of Onne Port water channel begins

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has started the clean up of the water of the Federal Oceans Terminal (FOT) in Onne, Port Harcourt, the River State capital.

    The exercise is the first of such projects being executed by NPA’s Environment Department and the FOT.

    Speaking on the sidelines of the kick off of the project at the Engineering Department of the Federal Lighter Terminal (FLT), Onne, the Acting Port Manager, Barbara Nchey-Achukwu, praised NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala-Usman, for approving the clean-up.

    She said the Port Manager, Alhassan Abubakar, was aware of terminal operators’ complaints on oil pollution.

    NPA, she said, would address the complaints, adding: ”I know that after this exercise, terminal operators will no longer complain to Onne Port Management of stains on their anchored vessels.”

    General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) I. S. Abdulbaki said his team came to Onne Port to clean  the water channels.

    He said they could not ascertain the cause of the spills, but suspected that oil bunkers and waste from communities  empty into the water channels.

    Part of the activities, he said, was to remove debris from the waters and clean it up.

    The Assistant General Manager, Environment, Khadijat Sheidu-Shabi said NPA  was carrying out the clean up to improve the quality of the Port water channels. “As an Authority, we are proud to show commitment to improving the navigational water channels within Onne Port,” Sheidu-Shabi stated.

    Principal Manager, and coordinator of the exercise, Uchenna Chukwuemeka said the team would use scooping nets to remove floating debris, cans and cellophane bags from the channels.

    The Manager, Pollution, Onne Port, James Edet, described the team as passionate about delivering clean water in the port channel.

    “We are set to achieve green Port status at Onne Port water Channel,” James said.

  • Pirates’attacks persist despite govt’s resolve to stop them

    Pirates are still having a field day at sea, attacking ships and stealing crude oil, despite the government’s resolve to curtail their activities.

    The Nation learnt that no fewer than 20 incidents had been recorded since the beginning of the year.

    Worse hit, according to the Protection Vessels International report, are foreign merchant vessels in the Southsouth waters.

    It said eight pirates, on January 24, attacked a merchant vessel at 35.9 nautical miles (NM) off Brass in Bayelsa State at about 8:33pm. The pirates opened fire on the tanker, whose sailor raised an alarm, mustered the non-essential crew and conducted evasive maneuvers.

    About seven gunmen were said to have fired at a merchant also vessel 37 NM South of Brass.

    Sources said the merchant vessel applied piracy-specific Best Management Practice (BMP5) safety measures and increased distance from the skiff, thereby taking the vessel and crew to safety.

    The continued attacks, which are said to be common and occur between 20 and 150 NM off the coast, explain the pirates’ extensive geographical range of operation. “The pirates are often armed and violent and there is precedent for attackers to persist when under attack from armed security teams until they have been injured or killed,” the report said.

    Despite efforts by Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Navy to curb piracy, the country is rated as having the highest number of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

    It also tops the list of countries with unsafe waters in West and Central Africa. For about four years, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a global piracy watchdog under the International Chamber of Commerce, has rated the country as worse hit by the menace.

    Contacted on phone, Nigerian Navy spokesperson Commodore Suleiman Dahun, told The Nation that a comprehensive report on its activities in the matter was ready, and awaiting the Chief of Naval Staff’s nod before being made public.

  • Fed Govt to ratify six IMO conventions

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is working with the Federal Ministry of Transportation under the auspices of an Inter-Ministerial Committee to ratify additional six International Maritime Organisation (IMO) conventions before the end of this year.

    NIMASA’s Director-General, Dakuku Peterside, made this known at the eighth Strategic Admiralty Law Seminar for Judges organised by NIMASA in conjunction with Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), in Lagos.

    These conventions include: The Hong Kong International Convention for safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships 2009; Protocol Relating to Intervention on the high seas in cases of oil pollution casualties (Intervention Protocol) 1973; 1996 Protocol on limitation of liability for maritime claims (LLMC).

    Others are 2002 Protocol relating to the carriage of passengers and their luggage by sea (PAL) 1976; International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F) 1995; and the Protocol of 2005 to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.

    He said that so far, 19 of the conventions have been domesticated by way of regulation, adoption or incorporation under the Merchant Shipping Act of 2007.

    The DG also assured that NIMASA as a responsible agency, is working with relevant stakeholders under the auspices of the IMO Mandatory States Audit Scheme (IMSAS) Corrective Action Plan Committee to ensure that all queries raised in the 2016 IMO Audit report on Nigeria’s maritime sector are addressed before the first quarter of 2019 in order to boost Nigeria’s reelection bid into Category ‘C’ of the IMO General Council.

  • Our plan for Warri Port, by firm

    The SIFAX Group-led consortium, Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited, has promised to turn around the fortunes of Terminal B, Warri Old Port in Delta State.

    The consortium’s Chairman, Taiwo Afolabi, made the pledge at the handing over of the terminal to his firm by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Abuja.

    The firm won the concession for the port with a bid of $100.78 million. It would run the terminal for 25 years.

    Afolabi said he noted the combined industry and business experience and pedigree of members of the consortium. He thanked the BPE and the NPA for the transparent manner the process was conducted.

    He said: “This is a great news for us as a company to have led this consortium to win the concession of the terminal. While we are glad that we have emerged the concessionaire of the Warri Terminal, we are not unaware of the enormous responsibility this success has conferred on us. However, it is a familiar territory for us having operated the Terminal C at the Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, successfully in the last 12 years. We will fall back on the experience and expertise we have developed running the terminal to make a difference at the Warri Port. We have already begun mobilising our team to hit the ground running as soon as possible. I want to assure that in no time, the fortunes of the Warri Port will change for the best.”

    Similarly, the Group Managing Director, SIFAX Group, Adekunle Oyinloye, pledged that the company will set new standards with the management of the new terminal. “BPE, NPA and other relevant government agencies should look forward to an efficient port management system when we formally take over the control of the terminal while the clients are in for an unparalleled customer-focused service delivery that will put them at the heart of our operations. We will also adhere strictly to the terms of the concession agreement too,” he said.

    Earlier in his speech, BPE Director-General, Alex Okoh, noted that the objectives of the Federal Government in concessioning the port is to increase efficiency, improve service delivery, modernise port development, reduce the cost of shipping and clearing of goods at the ports and relieve the government of the burden of financing the sector, while urging concessionaire to focus on these objectives as they take over the terminal.

    “Government expects nothing less than strict adherence to the terms of the concession agreement. Consequently, the pursuit of your business objectives must be tailored in a way that will also assist in the realisation of these objectives,” he noted.

  • Priming Apapa ports for ease of doing business

    THE economy relies heavily on trade and over 70 per cent of external trade is routed through the Apapa harbour. The poor state of access roads to the harbour, home to the two biggest seaports in the country, seems to have defied solution. It has paralysed socio-economic life in Apapa and made the evacuation of cargoes from the Lagos and Tin Can Island a nightmare.

    Every open space within and around the port has turned into a trailer park, frustrating operations at the two Lagos ports and its environs. Freight business is suffering because of huge evacuation costs, as trucks spend weeks while waiting to gain access into the port terminal.

     Stakeholders’ frustration

    To demonstrate their anger and frustration, some residents of Apapa last November gave the Federal and Lagos State governments, “a 21-day ultimatum to clear the armada of trucks that have, for years, made life a living hell for them and the Nigerian economy at large.”

    The Nation had reported last Friday about the peaceful protest staged by frustrated residents of Apapa. The peaceful protesters, led by their chairman, Brig-Gen Sola Vaughan, had handed over their protest letter to the Divisional Police Officer of Area B Command of the Nigeria Police for onward delivery to President Muhammadu Buhari. The residents had threatened to sue the NPA and all the shipping companies operating in the area if steps were not taken to ameliorate their situation.

    In  a similar vein, the Ladipo Market Traders Association raised concerns “at the over 200 percent hike in haulage cost, resulting from the persistent gridlock experienced on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and other access routes linking the Lagos ports”. The traders lamented that the increase in haulage cost was also responsible for the hike in price of goods in the market.

     New initiatives

    To arrest the impending port congestion, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, met with the key stakeholders last month. The meeting, which looked beyond the previous interventions that usually focused mainly on off dock situational challenges, resolved to address the connectivity challenges associated with doing business at the port.

    The NPA, it was gathered, subsequently rolled out a regime of palliatives to reduce the financial burden of shippers transacting business in the port, facilitate quick evacuation of cargoes and encourage faster return of empty containers to the port, among other benefits. For instance, effective December 18, 2018, over the next four months, the rent-free period for cargoes stowed at the terminals which used to be three free days was increased to 21 free days. The demurrage free period on return of empty containers was increased from the current five days to 15 days as well.

    Yet, to further ameliorate the hardship faced by cargo owners, shipping companies were directed to immediately deploy barges to evacuate empty containers from the port and take steps to clear the backlog of empty containers under their purview. To create more free space for cargoes arriving the country, the authority called on the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to immediately commence the process of auctioning overtime cargoes littering the port. These auctions should be carried out on the spot at port locations and every buyer would be given a stipulated short period to evacuate the cargoes out of the ports after which such cargoes will be re-auctioned. In addition, terminal operators were advised to negotiate and grant waivers to consignees to facilitate the evacuation of these cargoes, and mitigate against huge financial loss for the terminal operator as well as the consignee.

     Holding Bays

    The NPA, The Nation learnt, discovered that many shipping companies do not operate holding bays, contrary to the terms of their licence. Therefore, early in the year, the authority began to enforce the delivery of all empty containers at designated shipping companies holding bays, to manage the traffic in and around the Lagos ports, with a promise to come hard on truck drivers who failed to comply with the February 2018 Notice issued against bringing of empty containers directly to the ports.

    Under this arrangement, the shipping companies must stop   using their terminals in the port for storing empty containers and no truck driver or owner must be allowed by any official of NPA and terminal operators to bring empty containers into the port after delivering goods to importers. The terminal operators are also to declare the number of empty containers in their terminals periodically. Over 40 per cent of the space at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) and the Tin-Can Island Port is occupied by empty containers.

    End time for gridlock?

    While the new regime of palliatives are set for a review by the end of March 2019,  Bala-Usman has assured that other measures to put an end to the hardship at the Lagos ports would be intensified.

    “These long term solutions include the reconstruction of the roads leading to the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, the completion of the trailer park near Tin Can Island Port, and the roll-out of the truck call up system that would sanitise the flow of traffic within Apapa.

    The NPA’s goal is to establish a seamless intermodal system that allows cargoes to be evacuated from the nation’s port by road, rail and inland waterways, which would ultimately eliminate delays and make Nigerian ports globally competitive,” she explained.

  • ‘How to make sector vibrant again’

    To make the maritime sector competitive, the Federal Government has been advised to  expedite action on vessel acquisition.

    The government has also been urged to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Funds  (CVFF) to empower indigenous ship owners and create jobs for the unemployed youths.

    According to the Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association (NMNOWTSSA) National President Matthew Alalade, said that is the only way the maritime sector can be made vibrant again.

    Alalade, an engineer, said if ship owners were given the CVFF in the new year, they would be able to acquire vessels that would be of class to lift Nigeria’s cruse oil, thereby creating wealth for the nation and its citizens and create jobs for the teeming youths.

    “My expectations is for the government to acquire ship for the teeming youths and disbursement of CVVF to genuine prospective ship owners. Our vessel owners must partake in lifting of our crude also,” he said.

    Alalade called on the government to involve unions in the sector in negotiation before disbursing the funds to avoid it ending in private pockets.

    “In government negotiations, the unions must be involved so that the funds will not fly as national cake as was the case in the past,” he admonished.

  • ‘Why ports are less competitive’

    A maritime expert, Mr. Lucky Amiwero has blamed poor organisation and low capacity for maritime sector’s slow growth. This, he said, had made the country’s ports less competitive.

    Amiwero, the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) President, in a chat with The Nation, said over 9,000 jobs had been lost in the industry.

    He listed low draft, poor port infrastructure, lack of proper operating system and politicisation of key maritime positions, which should have been held by experts, as causes of declining fortunes.

    He blamed the government for much emphasis on revenue collection without making the port environment business friendly to attract investments and generate employments that will grow the economy.

    According to him, Nigeria’s highest draft of 13meters is not deep enough to accommodate bigger vessels with 20,000 TEUs while smaller neighbouring countries like Cameroun, Togo and Benin Republic have ports with depth of 16meters.

    This, according to him, has threatened Nigeria’s quest for a regional hub port status as the smaller countries with lesser cargo throughput are taking away almost all benefits Nigerian citizens should enjoy.

    He added that aside freight components being lost, the trans-shipment of cargoes from a port owner country to land locked neighbours is being enjoyed by other countries while Nigeria is losing out.

    He described lack of functional scanners at the ports as a serious setback, capable of exposing the country to risk of arms smuggling under the destination inspection regime.

    On the deplorable state of ports access roads in the country,  Amiwero blamed the Federal Government for poor response to the challenge, which according to him, has resulted in loss of lives and damage to import and export consignments.

    “The roads are so bad that you can’t predict when you access the ports. You can’t even say when your cargo can exit the port.

    “This is a neglected function of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) under Section 32A of its act.  It has the responsibility of working on port access roads, dredging of channels leading to the ports and fairway buoy

    “But what we have today, is that they are deviating from their core functions to pursue revenue collection.’’

    On the government’s drive for Ease of Doing Business in the port, he rated the government’s performance as very low and decried Nigeria’s position as number 184 among 190 countries on trading across borders.

  • Service beats revenue target

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Tin Can II Command said it exceeded its yearly revenue target, with a record of N23,525,782,214, exceeding the revenue target with over N6billion. The sum, the Service said, represented 36.8 per cent increase in revenue generation. the year under review.

    According to the Service, the revenue performance indices showed that despite several challenges that affected business flow, it still exceeded its revenue target.

    The Command’s image maker, Farouk A. S., explained in a statement that the Command achieved its objectives in the outgone year. He added that the Command Area Controller, Comptroller Lami Wushishi, is looking beyond high revenue profile, as the agenda for this year. This, he said, would speak volume since there are several strategies for re-orientation on ensuring that stakeholders key into the new module that would soon be unveiled to meet maximum productivity.

    According to him, the Command, which has been receiving its maximum revenue from the Free Trade Zone, has established infrastructural tendencies that will overhaul the operational methodology that will be embraced by stakeholders.

    Sequel to Col. Hameed Ali’s reform on suppressing smuggling and the mandate of maximum revenue collection, the Tincan II Customs Service has introduced a stakeholders compliance system for better service delivery.

    The Controller, therefore, reiterated the need for full fledged compliance, advising that 2019 will be different. He also said the Command’s officers are highly commendable.