The Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS) has accused shipping companies in Nigeria of extorting importers by demanding arbitrary container deposits from them.
The chamber also said that shipping companies are contributing significantly to the inflation in the country by the introduction of the containers deposit.
President of the Chamber; Mr Andrew Isichei, who said this last week in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos, also said that the kind of deposit these shipping companies request from Nigeria importers are very unfriendly.
He also said that the shipping companies have a way of receiving the containers back and at the end what they will refund back to the importer will be minimal.
Isichei also accused shipping companies of delay in the refund of the container deposit to the importer.
“The truth is that shipping companies are exploiting Nigerians to improve their bottom line. The kind of deposit they request is very enormous and unfriendly to the survival of any country. And therefore they contribute to significant inflation in this country by the container deposit that they demand”
“They also use different tactics to receive the containers back so that they will be receiving more money and at the end of the day whatever they give you; if any, is next to nothing. And when even you are entitled to it, they delay to give you that money. And if you are a business man you are looking for profit, when you now compute the money you will include the cost of container deposit. So the selling price will be higher and at the end of the day the ordinary man in the street will buy things at a very high price”, he explained.
He also called for the need for the government to introduce a strong regulatory agency to monitor the activities of these shipping lines.
“Those people are really cheating us, we need a strong regulatory agency, and thank God the Nigerian Shippers Council is now made the economic regulator to put them in line. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council should scrap the container deposit. But because some Nigerians will collect the container and won’t return it again, there should be a balance between total scrapping and obnoxious exploitative rates they charge now for demurrage”, he argued.
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