Clearing agents who specialise in the handling of imported vehicles have accused the management of Port and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML), bonded terminal, at Mile 2 of not having enough car handling equipment to carry out their job effectively.
Speaking to Shipping Position Daily, on the challenges they encounter in the cause of doing their business, some of the agents said that the major issue is that the terminal operator lack some equipment like, forklift to get their vehicles off the vessel thereby causing unnecessary delay for them at the ports.
According to an agent who pleaded anonymity, the bulk of the challenges they face at the ports have to do with insufficient tools and bureaucracy.
“So many challenges are hindering us from doing the business with little or no stress here and one of them is that there are so many bureaucracies here. You have to go through a lot of process before you can get a work done. Something that is supposed to take a day to complete will take up to a week if care is not taken. There are also so many charges here. The other major problem we are facing here is that the forklift here is not in good shape and for the past week now i have been waiting for my vehicle to be lifted out of the ship which has not been possible” he said.
Speaking further another agent who identified himself as Joseph Oge Olayinka said that, for government to achieve the 24 hours ports operation, he time frame of work at the ports should be adjusted.
He said that customs attached to the ports close as early as 4pm and if you go some minutes after 4pm, you will not be attended to, you will be asked to come back tomorrow.
“Here agents and importers are charged for errors that are mostly not caused by them. If the forklift is bad and my car cannot be discharged, I will be charged for demurrage. How is that my fault? I think with the advent of computer, duty rates should reduce instead of increasing. The customs officers here close as early as 4pm if you come after that, they will ask you to come back tomorrow and they will still charge you for demurrage. We plead with the government to come to our aid”, he concluded.
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