The Cries Over Alleged Arbitrary Port Charges

If there is any voice that has consistently dogged the part of the almost

three-year-old port concession, it is that of importers and licensed customs

agents who have not only accused the terminal operators of imposing arbitrary

charges on their consignments, but have also accused them of taking advantage

of the system.
The port system comprises primarily of Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) which

is now   the landlord, the terminal operators, shipping companies and their

shipping agents, importers and their clearing agents as well as the Nigeria

Customs Service. Of course, there are other government agencies whose presence

are also germane to an efficient port system.
Of all the parties identified above, only the licensed customs agents

(probably acting on the instruction of importers) have been vociferous about

high port charges. A group of licensed customs agents; the National

Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) recently

secured the support of another group which goes by the name: Importers

Association of Nigeria and together they have succeeded in dragging nine

members of the port system to court.
Those dragged before as Apapa magistrate court include two terminal operators

and about seven bonded terminal owners. They are: APM Terminal as well as

Tincan Island Container Terminal. The terminal operators are: Mid Maritime

Services, Migfo, Denca Bonded Terminal, Tha Shipping, Mid Maritime Services,

Sapid Agencies and Lillypond Container Terminal.
The interest of this paper is not in whether the action is altruistic or not,

but we know that   until the recent action by the importers’ association and

NAGAFF, all that had happened were murmurings on the part of stakeholders.

None knew what to do.
They all blamed the perceived excesses of both the terminal operators and the

bonded terminals on the laxity in the post-concession port system where there

is no mediating force among the various players.
Unconfirmed reports have it that between the terminal operators and the bonded

terminals, importers through their licensed customs agents make about 12

different payments.
The charges are: positioning for customs examination, terminal handling

charge, transfer charges, release and documentation charge, terminal delivery

charge, labour, service charge, rent charge, sorting charge, royalty to NPA,

among others.
We recall that at the early days of the emergence of port concessionaires on

the scene, they kicked against the continued existence of bonded terminals,

saying that with efficient service delivery, there was no further need for

bonded terminals in the port system.
The difference between efficient service delivery and otherwise is in port

concession. Prior to the concession of Lagos ports, stakeholders have always

compared how things work seamlessly at Onne port, in Rivers state, which is

arguably the test case for port concession. The price for efficient service in

Onne port is higher port costs.
While we may not be able to do a comparison of charges in Lagos and Onne

ports, there is confirmation that what importers are being subjected to in

Lagos is higher in terms of amount and variety of charges.
If importers pay terminal operators for terminal handling services and the

same terminals transfer containers to off-dock facilities where questionable

charges are still imposed on the same container and for the same services,

then, it is condemnable.
It is worse that those containers are transferred to bonded terminals without

the consent of the consignees who are still made to pay additional charges for

the same services that they had previously paid for at the ports.
As much as we agree that improved services in the ports may attract extra

costs, we are at a loss as to why charges should be duplicated and cargoes

made to suffer double clearance procedures; all in an attempt to make more

money for the terminal operators and the bonded terminals.
For several months, importers and licensed customs agents have cried, to no

avail until they resorted to legal action, which we dare say, may not achieve

much.
Without being prejudicial, we are of the opinion that the proposed National

Transport Commission (NTC) could best handle issues like this that border on

pure commercial disagreement.
Perhaps, the recent development will ginger both the National Assembly and the

transportation ministry to expedite action on the NTC bill.
But, while waiting for the NTC, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) should

intervene, especially since the terminal operators and operators of the

off-dock facilities are claiming that they have not done anything outside

their mandate in line with the port concession agreement.
We are also of a very strong opinion that the Nigerian Shippers Council cannot

continue to keep quiet in the face of agitation by shippers that they are been

cheated.