Shipping liners calling Nigerian ports have given their consent to cut the charges imposed on Nigeria-bound cargoes down to 35 percent by October this year, BusinessDay has learnt.
It was also gathered that the shipping lines, which currently have about 16 charges imposed on Nigerian cargoes including Container Deposit, Peak Period and demurrage among others, have agreed to reduce the charges to about six.
Speaking at the third Maritime Stakeholders’ Interactive Session held in Lagos last week, Hassan Bello, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), who expressed worry over the high cost of doing business at Nigerian ports, said Nigeria needs to have comparative advantage because her ports are competing with ports in the neigbouring countries.
“We have negotiated with the shipping companies and 35 percent of the cost as we know them today will disappear by next month. We have reduced the cost with the shipping lines but we are also appealing to the terminal operators to also come onboard for us to discuss on cost reduction,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria has proximity and historical bond with Niger Republic that does millions of tonnes of cargoes annually, but instead of using Nigerian ports, Niger importers get their cargoes through Cote Ivoire, Benin and Togo because of cost differentials. He said that those countries lowered their cost to attract cargoes from land-locked countries.
“Government owes responsibility to the private sector to create conducive atmosphere for their operations. The operating atmosphere in Nigeria is a little bit harsh. Government must improve on infrastructure. Apapa for example, so much is being collected but there is nothing much happening. If not for the intervention of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in providing truck transit parks and call-up system, we would not have been enjoying the relief that we enjoy today,” he said.
He further said that the relief has brought down the haulage fee as moving one container from Apapa to Ikeja, from N800,000 to about N300,000, adding that there is the need to sustain it. “We need to link the port with rail because our dependence on one mode of transportation is one of the problems,” Bello said.
He however, called on the Minister of Transportation to check the excesses of government agencies, especially their charges because such has direct consequences on cost.
“NPA has the right to raise charges without coming to the council but some time they go to the ministry to get approval but agencies like Nigerian Railway and NIMASA have no right to impose charges unless they discuss with Shippers Council,” he further said.
He said the minister also needs to take the concentration on maritime industry to the highest level by having a dialogue with the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) in order to restore sanity at the ports.
“As part of the minister’s concentration on the Maritime industry, there is the need to remove certain distortions to ensure that processes are automated to cut down delays. It is not actually the revenue because with Ease of Doing Business, Nigeria will have more volumes and more revenue. Reform must be instituted no matter how painful they are,” he suggested.
Reacting, Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the NPA, who disclosed that cargoes with high tariff like rice and vehicles are being diverted most to other ports, said Customs needs to deploy scanners for cargo inspection in Nigerian ports.
“Right now, all the cargoes coming into our ports are being examined physically by all the agencies of government, and this automatically translates to congestion. We like the minister to intervene with Customs to deploy scanners in our ports. We need to facilitate inspection of cargoes at our ports using scanners and in order to eliminate delays and cost. This is an integral part of Ease of Doing Business,” she added.
