Freight forwarders operating at the ports in Lagos have cried out to the government to look into the excesses of shipping companies which are now allegedly demanding for international passports of consignees before cargoes can be released from the port to any importer.
According to the Deputy President; Shipping Companies and Terminal Operators of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Mr. Ugochukwu Nnadi, the shipping companies are allegedly deliberately running the racket with the Nigerian Immigration Service.
Freight forwarders operating at the ports in Lagos have cried out to the government to look into the excesses of shipping companies which are now allegedly demanding for international passports of consignees before cargoes can be released from the port to any importer.
According to the Deputy President; Shipping Companies and Terminal Operators of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Mr. Ugochukwu Nnadi, the shipping companies are allegedly deliberately running the racket with the Nigerian Immigration Service.
The NAGAFF top-man pointed out that this has further led to a large crowd of people who do not have anything to do in the port trooping into the port premises. He said that shipping has gone international and that most importation and transactions are now being carried out online.
While stressing that the new process is a clog in the wheel of port operations and that it does not facilitate trade, Nnadi said that, “people who do not have any business coming to the port are forced to come to the port to see the Immigration, if you are clearing from an off-dock terminal, if the terminal is being controlled by Tin Can or Apapa Immigration, then you have to go to the port, what this means is that every consignee must come to the port; first before picking their consignment, by so doing, crowd is encouraged”.
“It is unfortunate that at this age and time where people can import from the comfort of their rooms through internet connections, shipping companies are still asking for international passport before releasing consignments, when you present national identity card or drivers license, they will not accept it”
“Even when the importer scan the passport through mail they will not accept it, you have to grease their palms with money before they can accept such copies”, he alleged further.
“Before you bring the original passport they will ask you to go and site it at the immigration, and when you go to the immigration you are going to pay money, if you have a container with vehicles, they will charge N5, 000 on each vehicles, you can end up paying N30, 000 on one bill of laden and international passport” he lamented.
Speaking in the same vein, Apapa Chapter Chairman of NAGAFF, Dr. Fred Ajuzie pointed out that shipping companies in Nigeria have been ripping-off importers and freight forwarders for years.
Ajuzie said that whenever a container is loaded from any part of the world, “you are finished with payments, what they are supposed to do here is to make sure that your container gets to you, they are only a representative of the shipping companies abroad”.
He said that whenever agents pay container deposits to shipping companies, they do not get back their refunds on time, rather the shipping companies will pay back in bits and pieces.
Discussion about this post