The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recently announced plans to reopen its e-auction portal designed for disposing of abandoned and overtime container boxes and vehicles at ports in a transparent way.
This process, according to industry analysts, will help to rid the Apapa, Tin-Can, and Onne Ports of abandoned and overtime container boxes.
In addition, the process is expected to free up economic spaces at the roll-in and roll-off vehicle terminals at the Tin-Can Island, and Ports and Terminal Multipurpose Ltd (PTML).
The decision to re-open the e-auction portal is coming two months after Adewale Adeniyi, comptroller-general of Customs, officially launched a committee on Disposal of Overtime Cargo on November 8, 2023.
Overtime cargo threatens port efficiency through congestion, high cargo dwell time, and delayed turnaround time of ships as vessels spend between 18 to 25 days waiting time before discharging at the ports.
For years, terminal operators and users of port services have been calling on Customs to decongest the port through on-the-spot auction of overtime goods without success.
Durowaiye Ayodele, general manager of the MD’s office at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), said there were over 7,000 overtime containers that had remained for years across Nigerian seaports.
“We have containers that have been there for over 10 years, occupying economic space for which we are unable to dispose of. So, this is a significant relief for our operations. We are delighted that we have reached a point where we can begin to remove some of these lingering containers and overdue cargo from the port,” he said.
On his part, Adegboyega Oyetola, minister of marine and blue economy, said recently that there were over 6,000 abandoned and overtime containers littering the Apapa, Tin-Can Island and Onne Ports, and obstructing the ease of doing business at the port.
“We have overtime cargoes that have been in the port since 2011, particularly in Tin-Can and Apapa Ports. I want to believe that it is likely to happen in other ports. There must be a time frame by which a cargo can stay, otherwise declared abandoned,” he said.
He said finding lasting solutions to the issue of overtime containers would help to decongest the port and create space for fresh business.
Affirming this, Mohammed Bello-Koko, managing director of NPA, said the removal of overtime containers at the port by Customs will free up space and preserve the durability of the capital-intensive port infrastructure.
He said that it would decongest the ports to pave the way for efficient port operations.
BusinessDay findings show that some of the contents of most of the longstanding containers at the ports, especially industrial chemicals, had expired and posed serious environmental risks to the ports and users of port services.
Also, allowing longstanding containers to occupy economic space at the port can result in port congestion and oceangoing vessels with laden imports will find it extremely difficult to secure a slot to discharge containers.
The Customs e-auction portal was first launched in July 2017 under the leadership of Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) but the process was not sustained.
Globally, Customs are expected to either destroy abandoned goods or auction them. For instance, Customs authorities of Bangladesh destroyed over 445 overtime containers in September 2022 to free vital yard space at Bangladesh’s Chittagong Port.
In Nigeria, auctioning of overtime cargo involves a process that is stipulated in the Customs Act.
According to the Customs Act, cargo can be classified as overtime when it spends 28 days at the port without the consignee coming to either clear or take it out from the port.
From the 29th day, the cargo is expected to be moved to a Customs warehouse in Ikorodu Container Terminal but due to the high cost of transporting the abandoned cargoes from the seaport to Ikorodu terminal, Customs allowed the goods to stay at the port for years.
After this, Customs is also expected to give another 60-day grace period for the owners to come for the goods after which it will make a public announcement in the newspaper and gazette the cargoes.
After the public announcement and the gazetting, the Customs can then go ahead to auction if nobody comes forward to claim the cargo.
