Apparently scared about the impending government hammer for non-compliance with the directive of the Federal Government over the collection of Practitioners Operating Fees (POF) at their terminals, the duo of APM Terminal in Apapa port and its sister terminal operator; West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) in Onne port have informed clearing agents of their readiness to commence implementation.
The two terminal operators, which had had been roundly-condemned by the Ministry of Transportation for failure to comply with the directive on collection of POF, however in separate letters addressed to their customers have notified that payment of POF will commence in July, 2022.
In a letter sent to clearing agents, the APMT said that henceforth payment of POF will be condition precedent to taking delivery of their consignments at the Apapa terminal.
In the letter that was sighted by Shipping Position Daily, APMT notified that: “We would like to inform you that the POF payment is now a mandatory requirement for issuing TDO and APMT will start enforcing the POF collection based on the directive from the Federal Ministry of Transportation from Friday, July 1, 2022”.
“APMT would require all agents and freight forwarders to present payment evidence of Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) before TDO is issued, (No POF, No TDO).
“We would like to encourage you once again to visit the CRFFN portal and make your POF Payments as we are duty-bound to enforce and notify CRFFN of the compliance level”.
Our correspondent confirmed that, prior to the latest development; APMT had earlier notified its customers on April 29, 2022 of the need to comply with government’s directive on POF.
Similarly, the Onne port-based WACT, in a letter dated June 24, 2022 and addressed to its customers, notified that payment of POF by clearing agents at its terminal is effective July 1, 2022.
In the letter, a copy of which was also sighted by our correspondent, WACT notified clearing agents that: “In line with the directive of the Ministry of Transportation, customers are required to produce evidence of payment of Practitioner Operating Fee (POF) before cargo release (TDO).”
It added that, “POF is Practitioners Operating Fee collected by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria and terminals have been mandated to confirm payment before release of imported cargoes”
“We encourage you to visit the CRFFN portal and make your POF Payments as we are duty-bound not to release container that the POF has not been paid (No POF, No TDO).”
“Please note that the commencement date for full implementation is 1st July 2022”, the statement added.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that, the Federal Ministry of Transportation had earlier threatened to sanction terminal operators that have failed to key into the policy of the government regarding the collection of Practitioners Operating Fee (POF).
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Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Magdalene Ajani, had while speaking at a strategic ministerial meeting with terminal operators and selected freight forwarders on the enforcement of POF in Lagos on April 29, said since the POF collection commenced officially in February 2021, some terminal operators have failed to comply with the agreement that was reached, which has resulted to loss of revenue to the country.
She said the ministry could no ignore the actions of the terminal operators, even as she affirmed that the job of the ministry was to ensure that government policies are adhered to.
According to her, where there is failure to adhere, it leaves the ministry with no choice but to look at the sanctions that could follow such disobedience of policy in the future.
She consequently said the ministry would give two months grace period for all terminal operators to key into the collection of POF, after which sanctions will be applied for those who failed to abide.
A document sighted by our correspondent revealed the terminals that are not complying are: APMT, ABTL, GDNL, WACT, AMS, Eko Support, ICNL, Julius Berger and INTELS.
It was however not ascertained as at press time whether ABTL, GDNL, AMS, Eko Support, ICNL, Julius Berger and INTELS have also complied like WACT and APMT.
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