The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) on Friday urged freight forwarders, importers and manufacturers to ensure compliance with the new International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) regime.
A statement in Lagos, by the President of NAGAFF, Mr Eugene Nweke, said the ICTN was meant to further enhance Nigeria’s foreign trade with regard to safety of cargo.
The NAGAFF president also said the ICTN would enhance the security of the nation as well as data collection for trade and planning purposes.
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) on Friday urged freight forwarders, importers and manufacturers to ensure compliance with the new International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) regime.
A statement in Lagos, by the President of NAGAFF, Mr Eugene Nweke, said the ICTN was meant to further enhance Nigeria’s foreign trade with regard to safety of cargo.
The NAGAFF president also said the ICTN would enhance the security of the nation as well as data collection for trade and planning purposes.
Nweke said the ICTN initiative would not in anyway constitute a clog in cargo clearance process, adding that “neither does it increase the cost of doing business in the ports’’.
“In the past, freight forwarders have had cause to protest what constituted the cost element of ocean freight rates for Nigerian-bound imports.
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“We encourage the importers and shippers to get themselves properly organised and dialogue with the government, as often as possible, with a view to promoting the import–export business in Nigeria.
“Freight forwarders should now remain focused and think about how our profession can be promoted through adequate capacity building and proper functioning of the Council for the Regulation for Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFF).
“NAGAFF has also noted that the ICTN regime is already in force in several countries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, including countries in our sub-region such as Benin, Cameroun, Togo, Congo, Angola, Cote D’ivoire and Burkina Faso,’’’ Nweke said.
He noted that there were a lot of challenges in the ports industry which revolved around the high costs of doing business, particularly the high rate of progressive storage charges.
“The Terminal Handling Charges-THC and the Progressive Storage Charges are among the charges stakeholders should confront by engaging in constructive dialogue with the relevant authorities.
“The notion that the ICTN will attract additional costs on goods is totally unfounded because cargo consolidators operating from Europe have for several years been enforcing ICTN and utilising the revenue as Cargo Tracking Levy.
“The government has realised the need not only to physically get involved in securing and tracking our cargo for obvious security reasons but to also generate the revenue which was hitherto collected by foreign cargo consolidators,’’ he said.
Nweke noted that failure to enforce globally-agreed security and safety measures in Nigerian ports could have negative impact on lives and properties.
He said such failure could distort external trade and discourage Foreign Direct Investments.
“There is also the likelihood of blacklisting our ports and increasing freight rates of goods coming to Nigerian ports.’’
Nweke advised importers and the manufacturing group to comply with the ICTN regime application.
He directed all freight forwarders to go about their legitimate duties and encourage their principals to comply with the ICTN regime and other fiscal policy measures of government. .
Nweke said the idea of mandatory tracking of cargo was introduced by the UN through the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) under the ISPS Code in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in the U.S.
NAN reports that the ISPS Code regulations require that port authorities initiate and develop security plans for vessels, port facilities, cargo and persons.
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