Following the disruption of business activities at the nation’s seaports in Lagos, Apapa and Tin-can ports, for close to one week over the ENDSARS protest by Nigerian youths, demurrage and storage charges have piled up on goods trapped at the ports within that period.
According to port users, shipping companies and terminal operators have started imposing these charges on cargoes trapped at the ports since on Tuesday last week when cargo evacuation from the ports to importers’ warehouses became impossible due to the unrest in the country.
In a letter titled ‘Appeal to all Shipping Lines/ Terminal Operators not to Charge Demurrage/storage during this ENDSARS Lockdown Period’, and addressed to the managing director of Maersk Line Nigeria Limited signed by Ibrahim Tanko, national coordinator, 100 percent Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), warned that any effort to impose demurrage and storage charges on trapped goods inside the ports will be resisted vehemently.
Read Also: Nigerian youths form NNYM to redirect #ENDSARS protest
“Following the ENDSARS protest by Nigerian youths, which lasted for more than a week; the NAGAFF 100 percent Compliance Team wishes to appeal to shipping companies and terminal operators in Lagos not to charge demurrage or storage fees on cargoes trapped inside the ports, said the letter, which was issued over the weekend.
Tanko stated that it has come to their knowledge that some shipping companies and terminal operators have already started charging storage and demurrage for the period of ENDSARS protest by Nigerian youths without recourse to consideration like safety of lives and properties.
“First consideration during crisis period is security of lives and properties. It is most unfortunate to note that otherwise is the case here and we want to say a ‘BIG NO’ to that. We had expected shipping companies and terminal operators to show some sense of concern, love, solidarity and pity to Nigerians and those importers who have lost their loved ones or properties in this struggle to put Nigeria on the track of good governance,” he noted.
He however noted that that NAGAFF 100 percent Compliance Team will not fold it’s hands and watch its members exploited for no fault of theirs, adding that they will resist such attempt.
“We will mobilise in most civil manner, other associations, truck owners, clearing agents and port users in a placard carrying protest against this impunity and block the ports access gates and entrances until our demands are met. We therefore call on the shipping companies and terminal operators to refund the fees to those who have already paid with immediate effect,” Tanko further said.
Kayode Farinto, vice president of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), said he expected the shipping companies and terminal operators not to collect demurrage and storage charges on cargoes trapped inside the port due to last week unrest.
“The protest led to breakdown of law and order, and the Lagos State Government had to impose a movement restriction, so under such circumstances, nobody could come to the port to clear cargo. Even the ports were shut down. If the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) head office in Marina can be torched by hoodlums, then we expect the shipping companies and terminal operators to understand what happened,” he said.
“We are going to write the NPA on this, because we won’t pay for what we didn’t cause,” he added.
