Worried by the constant imposition of extra charges on imports coming into countries in West and Central African states by foreign shipping lines, the Union of African Shippers’ Councils (UASC) has adopted measures to fight against surcharges imposed on shipments.
At the just concluded meeting of UASC held in Abuja, participants said African countries cannot afford to fold their hands while foreign ship owners continue to rip off shippers through arbitrary charges.
Therefore, the Council reached a consensus to take the matter up with foreign shipping lines in the upcoming Global Shippers Forum (GSF) in London.
Vice president Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, frowned at the process of introducing surcharges he said lacked transparency.
According to Osinbajo, the surcharges amount to huge sums of capital flight from Nigeria and the other West and Central African countries.
Hassan Bello, executive secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), who spoke on arbitrary increase in charges and introduction of new nomenclatures by
shipping lines, called on member states to insist that cargo owners must be consulted before new charges were imposed on them.
Bello, who doubles as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Trade and Transport, urged cargo owners to study and ask questions on the components of the charges being presented to them before making payment.
He enjoined Shippers’ Councils in the sub-region to resort to legislation if the foreign ship owners continue to impose extra charges without negotiation, adding that being part of the decision making before new charges were introduced would provide shipping lines the opportunity to explain the reason for such charges.
“If foreign ships owners insist that we cannot be part of the negotiation, we use legislation. We need to consider the negative effect of the surcharges on our individual economies and fight against them,” he stated.
According to Bello, these charges are affecting African economies through inflation owing to the fact that all the charges are passed to the final consumers.
He pointed out that such extra charges and subsequent rise in inflation results to poor standard of living because rise in market prices of goods would make them unaffordable to many.
