Last week, stakeholders converged on Rockview Hotels Apapa in Lagos to draw a road map towards building what they called a new port order in the Nigerian maritime industry.
The event, a one day seminar organized by the Shippers’ Association of Lagos state (SALS) with the theme,” Working Towards a New Port Order”, saw in attendance the crème-de-la-crème of the Maritime and the shipping world with a singular aim of identifying what has gone wrong with the industry that was once the pride of every Nigerian.
A lot of organizations namely; the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Flour Mills Nigeria Plc., Dangote Group, Nigerite, the Ports Consultative Committee to mention but a few delivered papers and goodwill messages on the way forward towards building a new port order.
Most of the speakers were of the opinion that things were no longer the same as it used to be thus the need for concerted effort to bring back the old order which had now been christened, “the new port order”.
Tracing the history, the President, Shippers’ Association of Lagos State (SALS), Rev. Jonathan Nicol stated that before the establishment of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Shippers’ activities and cargo coming into the country brought about taxation on goods now known as Customs duties which the first Chief Executive of the Customs Service Mr. T.A Wall collected to assist his administration.
The business of Importation according to him blossomed to a large extent that it supported the government thus necessitating the facilitation of trade in which case he opined that the regime of the colonial masters was successful.
According to him,” when it became necessary to have control of goods for regular taxation purposes, the Ports Authority was established under the Ports Act of 1954 (CAP 155) of the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended NPA Act No.38 of 1999 to be the gateway trade facilitator. The Nigerian Ports Authority was a terminal operator with bonded warehouses and stacking areas for general cargo of shippers at that time. There was a dock yard where ships were dry-docked under the Nigerian Ports Authority. All of these are gone! What went wrong? God may ask!”
He noted that goods were released to their rightful owner, which is the shipper after payment of import tax to the Nigeria customs Service and very insignificant storage fee paid by shipper to the Nigerian Ports Authority as terminal operator with minimum delay.
The people were happy then and shippers’ were respected. The Nigerian shippers and the seafarers were appreciated in those days. The huge inflow of cargo into Nigeria became noticeable by the United Nations and the need to protect the Nigerian Shippers was necessary in terms of freight charges and pricing hence the establishment of the Shippers’ Council in many developed and developing countries including Nigeria.
Going by the above named scenarios, one would be forced to re-echo the question, what then went wrong? Rev. Nicol provided answers to that question as he said that the Federal Government’s policies brought about cumbersome documentations and clearing processes in the trade and compulsorily, some government agencies and organizations in the management of cargo in the country emerged.
He listed the agencies and organizations to include but not limited to; the shipping companies, the Nigerian Ports Authority, the terminal operators, the banks, the insurance companies, the freight forwarders, the cargo Superintendent Companies, the Courier Companies, the road transport companies and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
Others are the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), the freight forwarders’ associations, National Food and Drugs Administration and control, Standards organization of Nigeria, the Plant Quarantine, the Nigeria Police NIMASA, the Nigeria Customs Service and so on.
It is pertinent to note here that almost all these organizations are paid some kind of charges by the shipper in order to clear his cargo.
Nicol further pointed out that from the point of view of the Shippers, the Nigeria Customs Service had managed the collection of duties properly, however, the bulk of the problem the Service was having today was drawn from the document with which they operate with known as the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).
He therefore added that CEMA should be amended to have a human face and embrace modern techniques in cargo management.
“The new port order will suggest that the Nigeria customs officers are not seen on our highways anymore. In the foreseeable future, the Nigeria Customs Service and its officers will be respected for their unique role in keeping the economy of the country sustained. But a lot more needs to be done to clean up the system especially trade facilitation which is one of their objectives and paramount”.
“Also, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding I Nigeria (CRFFN) will have a right of place and respected by all in their duties of training and re-training Nigerians as freight forwarders in their country. Government therefore should support the Council and ambiguity noticeable in the Act should be amended to give that support”.
At this point, one may be forced to wonder what the ingredients of this new port order will be. Again, Rev. Nicol who is seen as the apostle of the new port order in the Nigerian maritime industry dprovide answers as he said that,” walking towards the visualized new port order, Nigerian Shippers would be very fascinated indeed if our ports are fully automated, trucks terminals built within 100 meters away from the port”.
“Trucks would gain access to the ports only when they are called upon with a computerized card, roads leading to the ports are constructed to accommodate heavy duty trucks, port access roads are only for port users, a systematic and well computerized method of monitoring the ports by sophisticated security outfits (shippers can assist with this) as well as cargo clearance within 48 hours as required by government”.
He listed others to include that; customs queries should be minimized to a manageable proportion without allowing such cargo to remain indefinitely in the ports, raw materials for industries cleared expressly without queries and reckless neglect, fast track should be simplified, priorities be given to export commodities, transportation of container charges reduced and properly controlled and demurrages on truck commences 24 hours after leaving the port to destination.
The new port order also portends that the Federal Operations Unit of Customs be withdrawn since goods were released by authorized customs officers and from authorized customs ports, cargo exit be done once by the Nigeria customs resident officers, gate control at main gates be abolished and scanned items be released immediately and trucks loaded as well for delivery.
Also documentations be reduced to the barest minimum, human traffic be drastically curtailed or prohibited except on invitation by the port operators, government agencies in the port be drastically reduced, Nigeria Customs Service will then do their jobs well, manifests of cargo transmitted electronically to the Nigeria Customs Service, all containers scanned with a miniature film showing content in the boxes and films will accompany the manifest to the Nigeria Customs Service 4 days before arrival of vessel.
In all these, what should be the expected role of the Nigerian Ports Authority as the Custodian of the Nigerian ports towards ensuring the entrenchment of a new port order in Nigeria?
In this case, it was the views of the shippers that NPA should work to ensure that the waiting time for vessels to berth be reduced, turnaround time of vessels should fall within 5-7 days, NPA charges reduced to facilitate trade, security enhanced in the ports, clamping of vehicle when loading or after be stopped and terminal operators must provide Port Development Data and also provide infrastructure.
That was not all as they wanted back up power supply provided as according to them, operators knew the problems in the Country before entering into contract with the government. It was also in their view that the Minister of Transport as well as his counterpart in the Finance Ministry should make regular visits to the port so that the rules are protected.
While the Federal Ministry of Works must to ensure that all the roads leading to the ports complex are in good condition from time to time, the Apapa Local Government must ensure that all the link roads within its jurisdiction must be properly maintained.
Moreso, excessive and double taxation on shippers such as 5% VAT and Port Development Levy should be revisited and the later be abolished since its purpose for which it was meant has been fully accomplished.
Moving on to the part of the terminal operators, it is expected that they should work to ensure that terminal charges are reduced by a reasonable proportion, demurrage free during all official public holidays including Sundays, prompt positioning of cargo for examination when necessary and establishment of release and delivery order within the loading bay complex.
They should also ensure sufficient plants to load containers, that excessive demurrage charges are refunded to the importers, receipt of empty containers promptly from trucks, regular export of empty containers weekly be adopted to rid the ports as dumping and storage ground for empty boxes, penalty for refusal should be in place as well as regular synergy between the terminal operators and Customs officers to discharge cargo within 48 hours.
The shipping companies are not left out as they should endeavor to provide for a 21 day free on all containers before demurrages start counting, ensure that shipping and terminal charges are raised at one point, container deposit for local deliveries ceased, container deposit up country be streamlined, demurrage free on all official public holidays and Sundays and monitoring of loaded vehicles to main exit gate.
The shipping companies should also work to ensure that no demurrage is charged for failure of inter-connectivity i.e. network problems, receipt of empty containers promptly, payment of container deposits promptly within 7 days and evacuation of empty containers regularly.
A new port order also means that the nation’s foreign exchange market should be stabilized as it is the only source of payment of goods to the shippers’ suppliers. Foreign exchange transactions should be dealt with strictly by the banks and black or parallel foreign exchange market has not helped the Nigerian economy thus encouraging currency trafficking.
Not only that the parallel foreign exchange market encourages currency trafficking, it has also been discovered that the shipping and terminal companies use the current parallel market exchange rates to determine charges. Also the unstable exchange rates make it impossible for the shippers to make accurate projections in their import and clearing transactions.
Shippers therefore appealed to the Federal government to look deeply into why the Nigeria’s Naira cannot measure up in the international circles as according to them,” we export a lot of commodities that should have by now brought down our Naira to 50 Naira to the U.S dollar”.
However, it was the opinion of the shippers that when all these were properly put in place, there would be no room for human contact in the ports and when this was so, corruption would be controlled.
They thus hoped that the New Port Order would not be compromise with blackmail and blatant abuse of the law as it was morally right to protect the innocent. “It is therefore in our hands to change the course of history and we should”.
