Freight forwarders in the nation’s maritime industry have raised the alarm over a certain levy charge by shipping companies which is known as Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA) Sea Protection Levy (SPL) charge.
The levy which importers pay through their clearing agents has been condemned by freight forwarders even as they lamented that such payment is uncalled for and that the new development will make some of the importers to shun Nigerian seaports.
Freight forwarders in the nation’s maritime industry have raised the alarm over a certain levy charge by shipping companies which is known as Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA) Sea Protection Levy (SPL) charge.
The levy which importers pay through their clearing agents has been condemned by freight forwarders even as they lamented that such payment is uncalled for and that the new development will make some of the importers to shun Nigerian seaports.
According to the freight forwarders, the levy is one that will discourage some importers from doing business in the Nigerian seaports.
However the freight forwarders also lamented that the monies paid by importers which are allocated to the Nigerian Navy and NIMASA is unjustifiable because the two agencies are still unable to protect lives and properties at sea.
Shipping Position Daily gathered that collection of the NIMASA SPL charges started in January 2013, but freight forwarders have since condemned the levy, even as they pointed out that it is reason for an ombudsman to be set up to supervise the activities at the Nigerian ports.
Operations manager; Virtues Marine and Freight services Limited, Mr. Chukwuma Okafor ,told our correspondent last week in Lagos that NIMASA is properly funded by the Federal Government, hence such levy collected by shipping companies on behalf of the maritime agency sends a wrong signal to importers who bring vehicles through the Nigerian seaport.
According to him, the N1600 imposed on each vehicles imported into the country has been overlooked by importers, but the need to draw the attention of the government is germane in order to put a end on the collection. He also disclosed that the levy also affected containersised cargoes.
"NIMASA collects their own allocation through the Ministry of Transport and I believe that such budget allocation can solve any problem that might arise as regards our territorial waters, especially in the area of piracy and others", he stated.
"Then why is it that the shipping companies and terminal operators will bill shippers, importers or even the agents N1600 for the protection of vehicles which NIMASA collect".
"How often are such vessels attacked within our maritime domain that they want to collect such money from us".
"Vessels that are commonly attacked in our territorial waters, what about petroleum tankers and trawlers and NIMASA has not been able to tackle that area, why are they interested in imposing a levy on vessels which are hardly attacked by sea robbers within the nations maritime domain" , he wondered.
He went further to say that, "we are paying level on our territorial waters and what happened to the tax that we normally pay to the government".
"Why must they collect from the ministry of transport and the same time collect from us as individuals".
"We are paying 5% VAT on all the bills to shipping companies therefore we are calling on the government to remove the NIMASA levy from the billing system".
"We don't know what will happen in the next two years as regards such charges because the cost of doing business in our ports will be very high and in turn, it will affect the consumers thus there will be inflation in the market, therefore we are saying that government should step in to look into the arbitrary charges by the shipping companies and NIMASA as well".
In a similar reaction, a member of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) who craved anonymity, also called on the government to speedily set up a commercial regulator that will tackle some of the problems that are being faced by importers and freight forwarders in the ports, even as he added that the new levy being collected by NIMASA is illegal.
He also urged the Minister of transport to look into the levy.
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