100% Compliance Team workshop will proffer solutions to port problems – Tanko

The 100% Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) said it has concluded arrangements to hold a 2-day workshop that would create an avenue for maritime stakeholders to discuss the challenges at ports.

Ibrahim Tanko, the national chairman of the team, who disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos, recently, said the workshop is slated for June 22 and 23, 2022 at Rockview Hotel, Apapa with the theme: ‘Sustainable Synergy with the Nigeria Customs Service, Shipping Companies, Terminal Operators, Freight Forwarders and other Stakeholders’.

According to him, the workshop aims to bring the various stakeholders and regulators together to discuss the challenges hindering smooth port operation.

Tanko said the workshop has become necessary because it will give service providers including the shipping lines, terminal operators, and barge operators as well as regulators such as the Nigerian Ports Authority, Customs, the Nigerian Shippers Council, and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency among others to synergise.

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“We need to come together to discuss and find lasting solutions to the various challenges plaguing the industry instead of fighting. So, the workshop is to discuss the major problems and proffer solutions to the myriads of industrial challenges. The various service providers and regulators have been invited and they will tell us what is being done to resolve these challenges and the users of these port services will also make their inputs in order to have efficient port operations,” Tanko said.

He further said that there is a need for clarification on issues, particularly in barge operation, cargo evacuation, the establishment of holding bays, and collection of Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN).

He added that the Registrar of CRFFN would also use the opportunity to tell freight forwarders what they stand to benefit from the payment of the POF, which is paid per container and tonnage of imported cargo