The Shippers Association Lagos State (SALS) has urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) not to review her concession agreement with members of the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) over their continual disobedience and disrespect for laws guiding port operations in Nigeria.
The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Ms Hadiza Bala Usman at a stakeholders meeting in Apapa recently assured that the review of port concession agreement would be concluded in May 2018.
But, President of SALS, Rev. Jonathan Nicole in a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week however said that the terminal operators are not predictable and the NPA should think twice before renewing their concession agreement.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that STOAN had gone to court to challenge the decision of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) in reversing storage charges collected by the terminal operators and the increase of the free storage period at the ports from three to seven days.
The association had lost in the Federal High Court as the court had also upheld the decision of the ports economic regulatory.
But the association decided to go to the Appeal Court where they again lost and ordered to refund all they had collected in the past, estimated to run into billions of Naira.
Speaking, the SALS boss advised NPA to thread with caution in dealing further with the terminal operators saying that "if they continue to disobey government’s rules and regulations and they are saying that nobody can talk to them, I don’t think reviewing the contract is worth it, because we never can tell what will happen tomorrow, I think everybody should look at it that way"
"What is happening now is even small; we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, they (SALS) should even convince us why they should continue to stay in Nigeria"
Nicole said that terminal operators have made so much money in Nigeria by fleecing shippers and the clearing agents.
He said "What they are making in one month here in Nigeria, they cannot make it in their own country in five years, here is like a Greenfield for them”
Shipping Position Daily gathered that STOAN may also be planning to head to the Supreme Court after recently losing the case at the Appeal court in Lagos.
Sources confirmed that solicitors to the terminal operators are only waiting for the copy of the court judgment before heading to the Supreme Court.
They have been in frantic search of the copy of the court judgment for close to a month that the judgment was delivered in Lagos.
The copy of judgment will contain details of the court’s pronouncement, such as giving further insight to the decision reached in dismissing the case against the service providers.
Nicole in reaction to the news, said that SALS is not perturbed if the STOAN decides to head to the Supreme Court.
He however said that the STOAN as well as the Association of Shipping Line Agencies (ASLA) which is also a part of the case, have not contacted the SALS to suggest an out of court settlement.
Speaking further, he said "We cannot stop them from going anywhere they want to go, if they feel they are not satisfied, then this is the only platform they can go, but I think it is wrong for them to be challenging the government that gave them job"
"It is very wrong for service providers to be doing things like this in our country, we don’t have another country, if what they are doing is wrong and they still insist on doing it, then the government should have a rethink"
"To the best of my knowledge, I have not been contacted for any settlement out of court, and they are the ones that went to court, so we expect them to make the move, if they decide to make the move, why not? We would think about it, we don’t quarrel with anybody" he said
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