Oluyinka Onigbinde
Even as unpaid container deposits nears N20Billion annually, freight forwarders operating in the nation’s maritime industry have singled out MSC shipping company and a few other shipping lines as holding on to the huge amount of container deposits.
They alleged that the shipping companies collect container deposits from them on behalf of the importers, but fail to refund the deposit paid, even after the container has been returned to the shipping lines.
Our correspondent gathered that shipping companies collect deposits ranging from N200,000 to N400,000 on 20-foot containers and 40-foot containers respectively.
Even though an updated figure for non-refunded container deposits was still been awaited, checks by our correspondent revealed that as of 2019 alone, a whopping N17 billion was collected as container deposit refund by the shipping lines.
Our sources hinted that, the deposits would be close to N20Billion, since it was more than N17Billion about three years ago, when the issue was discussed at a meeting of heads of agencies under the ministry of Transportation.
Sources informed that at one of the meetings of heads of maritime agencies, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, had also lamented the recalcitrant behaviour of some of the shipping companies in refunding the container deposits to the importers through the clearing agents .
It was gathered that a technical committee of NSC and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has been constituted to address the issue.
The NSC boss, according to a reliable source had also suggested that a meeting between the heads of maritime agencies and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should be arranged to discuss the issue.
Speaking on the anomalies of container refunds, a chieftain of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Sir John Ofobike, singled out Grimaldi shipping line as one of the few shipping companies which pay the container deposit without delay, he lamented that some other shipping companies do not pay.
He particularly alleged that getting back container deposit refunds from the MSC shipping company is the most tedious; this is even as he blamed the Nigerian Shippers’ Council for allegedly failing to regulate shipping companies in the country as expected.
He said: “If the shipping companies are not complying with the rules and regulations because they are private business people who come to make money, which regulates them? NSC that is supposed to regulate them has been given to politicians.
I have been here for years and I can tell you that this issue of container deposit is a rip-off, we have gone to that place to picket them on many occasions and some of them complied. Grimaldi for instance doesn’t owe you your container deposit refund, but if you go to MSC hardly will you get your refund.
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Also speaking to our correspondent, Mr, Frank Obiekezie, Secretary-General of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (ARFFN) informed that clearing agents have on several occasions complained about MSC Shipping not returning the container deposit, he noted that others are beginning to comply while stating that some of the junior staff working in some of the shipping companies are the ones causing the problem.
“I have discovered that some workers at the lower level will form some sort of blockade and begin to frustrate agents. Let me tell you about my personal experience with CMA, the containers were returned to them on the 25th of April, and my boys were going there from time to time to demand the refund, but they keep postponing it until I had to write to the manager, who now apologized that he was not aware, and just this morning they sent in my refund, so most times it is the people they employ that are the problem, because they want to extort and the top management may not be aware”, he said.
All efforts to get the reaction of the Managing Director of MSC Shipping proved abortive as calls and text messages sent to him were not responded to.
But, when contacted, the Director of Consumers Affairs at the Shippers Council, Chief Cajetan Agu, asked freight forwarders and importers who are owned by MSC shipping company or any other shipping companies to write to the council, promising that such a person will get his/her container refund in less than 48 hours.
“Let such importer or agent write to us and we will take it from there and I can assure you that in less than 48 hours, such a person will get his container deposit back” he assured.
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