Activities at the ports in eastern Nigeria may shut down soon as the hushed disquiet between the port authorities and shipping trade practitioners may soon break into the open. Already, members of the Shipping Trade Practitioners Association of Nigeria (STPAON) have made two attempts to address maritime reporters but it was called off in the last minute.
The areas that may be hard hit include ports in Port HarcourtatOnne (Rivers State), Warri (Delta State), and Calabar (in Cross River State), all in the eastern axis.
STPAON members make shipping play their role at the ports. They are said to work to make sure ships arrive and birth or take off to high seas. Several fees are paid by shippers to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to enable the STPAON members perform the various roles.
Now, sources close to the members claim that after paying the necessary fees, when the time comes for the NPA to render the sensitive services, the STPAON members said they would hardly get any such services.
At that point, they would be forced to pay private persons to get the services so ships would sail in or out. The two major services not being delivered, according to the members include absence of Tug Boat services for berthing and sailing of vessels. Another is Pilothet Cutter services to convey pilots to Bonny anchorage to bring in vessels.
A source in STPAON said a Pilot Cutter is a small, fast, and highly manoeuvrable sailing boat used to transport maritime pilots from a harbour to large trading vessels entering port, essentially guiding them safely into the harbour. They are said to be known for their excellent sailing ability and are designed to be able to operate in rough weather with a small crew.
The source added that these services were being paid for by port users (shipping agents/STPAON members) in NPA provisional bills in Dollars as statutory bills that must be settled or paid before vessels were allowed to enter the port. “These services were not delivered by NPA as paid for by ships agents. These now lead shipping agents to incur extra costs to hire tug boats and also pay cash to pilots to berth or sail vessels.”
Investigations reveal that there are more to these extra expenses such as pilot sleeping fees, over draft, over length, pilot inconveniences, among others. The sources claim that paying for these services twice ends up being passed to the consumers and the masses who bear the final burden of high prices in the market.
The union members claim that the problem is anchored on fees paid to the NPA ending in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) introduced in ex-President Mohammadu Buhari’s first year in office which required all incomes of the agencies of government to be paid into a TSA without the agencies having access to the funds to run their agencies.
They are required to apply properly and get allocations to run their agencies. Most agencies claim that the funds hardly come on time or at all, thus crippling operations. Most service-based agencies are said to be so cash-strapped that they now go through the back door to raise funds often from the same clients that had paid these fees in the beginning into Government Accounts.
The union members seem bitter and seem to hold the NPA and the Federal Government responsible for their plight.
This has led to calls by operators for the unbundling the TSA to the extent that it would have some leverage for agencies and establishments such as NPA to utilize part of the revenue generated to provide needed services to port users.
They demand that payments for services should be separated from revenue to the government in the TSA. A source said: “This singular act will help solve the problems at hand because the NPA concessioned part of her responsibilities such as towage services that concern berthing, sailing, pilotage, and towage services. Having paid to TSA and the NPA would declare high revenue. It will be left to the same people who paid these fees to still go look for who will do what the money was meant for. This is to the detriment of providing needed services that could sustain port patronage by diverse port users.
“These challenges were noticeable only in the Eastern ports (PH, Onne, Calabar, and Warri ports). Lagos ports are better off and have better services compared with what is going on at all the Eastern ports.”
Inquiries sent to the public affairs unit in the eastern zone headquarters in the NPA in Port Harcourt did not receive a response many days after.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
