When in 2003, the Federal Government came up with the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act, the idea was to not only grow the Nigerian maritime sector vis-à-vis the economy through effective participation of indigenous owned vessels in the nation’s lucrative shipping business, but to also restrict the use of foreign vessels in domestic coastal trade in order to promote the development of indigenous tonnage.
Secondly, the Cabotage Act was geared towards securing jobs for qualified and upcoming Nigerian cadets presently training in the different maritime institutions of the world, and to also increase the number of Nigerians participating in the shipping aspect of crude oil lifting business. This became essential bearing in mind that Nigeria is one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of crude oil.
According to the Act, “A vessel other than a vessel wholly owned and manned by Nigerian citizens, built and registered in Nigeria shall not engage in the domestic coastal carriage of cargo and passengers within the coastal territorial inland waters, or any point within the waters of the exclusive economic zone of Nigeria.
It went further to put out certain clauses to accommodate granting of waivers of different categories to foreign owned vessels in the event that Nigerians fail to produce qualified manpower to man Cabotage vessels, own ship yards to build Cabotage vessels and acquire the specific vessels required for a particular Cabotage trade.”
For instance, the act states: “The minister may on the receipt of an application grant a waiver to a duly registered vessel on the requirement for a vessel under this Act to be wholly manned by Nigerian citizens where he is satisfied that there is no qualified Nigerian officer or crew for the position specified in the application.”
Meanwhile, the Guidelines on Implementation of Cabotage Act 2003, issued by the Federal Ministry of Transportation in 2007, defined Cabotage cargo as cargo and passengers originating from one port or point in Nigeria to another within Nigeria. It emphasises on the loading and discharging ports, meaning that it involves cargo originating from Nigeria and destined for the Nigerian market.
The guideline listed Cabotage vessels to include passenger vessels, crew vessels, bunkering vessels, fishing trawlers, barges, offshore service vessels, tug boats, tankers, carriers and among others.
Fourteen years into the implementation of the Act, Nigeria is yet to actualise the purpose of its existence obviously due to several violations by foreign owned ships that presently dominate the nation’s shipping business.
Finding shows that these foreign owned vessels ride on the back of perceived ‘poor capacity’ including lack of funds among Nigerian ship owners for the acquisition of standard vessels to participate in Cabotage trade as well as lack of sufficient manpower to man vessels at sea as required by the law.
Worried by the trend especially the level of violation of the Act, in 2017, Dakuku Peterside-led management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Cabotage enforcement agency, introduced Cabotage Compliance Strategy (NCCS), which made it clear that the agency shall no longer consider applications for granting of waiver on manning for prescribed categories of officers in vessels engaged in Cabotage trade.
The effected officers include second officer, second engineer, second mate, seamen, ratings and stewards.
Upon the introduction, Peterside said that special applications for captains, chief engineers, chief officers, first mate in the absence of qualified Nigerians, shall be considered on merit, but on the condition that such company will make plans to train a Nigerian and put in place a transition plan to ensure that the Nigerian will take over the job within one year.
For Peterside, this was to not only assure Nigerians that NIMASA will continue to support and promote indigenous participation in the Nigerian maritime sector, but to also ensure that Nigerians are not deprived of the jobs due them.
Sadly, despite the awareness created among the international oil companies (IOCs) to support NIMASA’s bid to ensure full implementation of the Act, some shipping companies have vehemently gone against this move by constantly allowing foreigners to man ships involved in Cabotage trade.
The most recent was the case between NIMASA and a motor tanker, MT NAVIGATOR CAPRICORN, a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) carrier, used for the movement of Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), which was arrested for contravening sections of the Cabotage Act. NIMASA issued a detention order against the vessel, which was first boarded in October 2018 and all infractions of Cabotage non-compliance were noted and communicated accordingly to the charterer/owners representatives, but a 90-day grace period to comply was also given to them.
The vessel was arrested at the expiration of 90 days grace period on the 31st January 2019, because the vessel owners failed to rectify the Cabotage infractions that were noted in 2018 by NIMASA. The LPG carrier was said to be responsible for bringing gas every two weeks to Lagos for the licensed off takers appointed by the Nigeria LNG to distribute LPG to the domestic market. This was why alarm of possible scarcity was raised at that time.
Beyond that, NIMASA has promised not to compromise the growth of the maritime sector, especially when it comes to the issue of enforcing its statutory regulations enshrined in the Agency’s empowering instruments.
To bridge manpower supply gap in the Nigeria’s maritime sector, NIMASA created an interventionist programme known as the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), which has trained over 2000 cadets, and is making serious headway to also create sea-time training opportunity for the cadets, after graduation.
Upon obtaining their Certificate of Competency (CoC) after the sea-time training as required by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), this crop of seafarers, need ships especially Cabotage vessels that would employ them to earn a living. This is the more reasons IOCs operating in the nation’s waters needs to comply with the rule of the engagement in order to preserve the jobs of Nigeria’s future generation.
Just like Peterside had always said, NIMASA does not need to change the rule of engagement to a confrontational one, because the mandate is to grow shipping for our economic benefits, and this will be difficult to achieve if industry players refuse to cooperate and collaborate with the maritime regulatory body.
Having said that, industry players need to draw up a 5-year strategic plan for the cessation of application for Cabotage waiver, and pursue the utilisation of Nigerian-owned vessels and seafarers for the execution of marine contracts.
Amaka Anagor-Ewuzie
