Reactions have continued to trail the recent directive that was issued by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) that ship owners, operators, and ship agents should put their vessels in class or risk de-flagging.
Some stakeholders in the maritime sector have said that most of the ships operating on Nigerian waters are too old for classification.
Reactions have continued to trail the recent directive that was issued by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) that ship owners, operators, and ship agents should put their vessels in class or risk de-flagging.
Some stakeholders in the maritime sector have said that most of the ships operating on Nigerian waters are too old for classification.
The stakeholders who spoke with Shipping Position Daily on the issue expressed divergent views even as some of them said that the NIMASA directive cannot be complied with and that it is an empty threat.
NIMASA had listed six approved classification societies namely; the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Bureau Veritas (BV), Det Morske Veritas (DNV), Lloyds Register (LR), International Naval Surveys Bureau (INSB) and International Register of Shipping (IRS) for the exercise.
But speaking with our correspondent last week, the former President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) Captain Adewale Ishola expressed doubt that these classification societies will accept most of the vessels currently working on Nigerian waters.
Capt. Ishola said that, “some of the ships are too old that no class will accept them, I don’t think the seven classes that are approved by NIMASA will take any ship that is not seaworthy, it takes a lot of surveying to ascertain the condition of the vessel”.
According to him, it will be easy for some that are already maintaining their vessel, but the rest cannot make it.
Also responding on the issue, a frontline stevedore who prefers anonymity told our correspondent that the directive is not achievable and that it is just a mere statement from NIMASA. He argued that if NIMASA decides to de-flag many of the vessels for falling short and wipes them out, the country will not have any more vessel and that even the petroleum products will not get to the market again.
He condemned the fact that Nigerian ports do not have longer jetties that can accommodate mother vessels instead of the Ship to Ship (STS) transfer that the country currently does.
According to him, ship owners find it difficult to buy new vessels because the situation in Nigeria does not warrant it, “Class is a vessel tactic, for anybody to meet this standard, it costs money, and this is why many of the vessels are in bad shape. If you have a class vessel, nobody will patronize you because to realize your profits you have to increase your rates, people prefer to take an old vessel that will charge less”.
“It is the same way with buying of cars in Nigeria, people buy second hand buses because of the little fares they collect from passengers, but if you buy a brand new bus, how long will it take you to recoup your money, if you decide to charge passengers higher, nobody will patronize you” he said.
He charged NIMASA to disburse the much- talked about Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) in order to encourage indigenous ship owners.
However, in a telephone chat with Shipping Position Daily, the Secretary of the Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) Captain Niyi Labinjo commended NIMASA for the directive, even as he said that it is a welcome idea and that ship owners are in total agreement with it.
He debunked allegations that indigenous vessels are old and dilapidated; he said it’s all an attempt to call the dog a bad name in order to hang it.
“If a ship is not in class, that ship cannot trade, this is the standard practice anywhere in the world, no insurance company will pick you up if you don’t have class, if you don’t have the class you cannot have the P and I, if you don’t have the P and I, you cannot trade, for as long as it is a ship, if you want to register it in Nigeria, you must first and foremost have an insurance and for you to have an insurance, you must have class, and for you to have class, you must be sea worthy, and for you to be sea worthy, you must have satisfied the conditions for going to sea” Labinjo said.
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