The Nigerian Shippers Council has insisted that the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) which the agency is implementing is at no cost to the shippers, but that the inherent cost are to be born by the international shipping lines and carriers. The Council has equally accused the international shipping lines and their agents in Nigeria; the Shipping Association of Nigeria (SAN) of creating disaffection among the organized private sector in Nigeria by promoting falsehood that ICTN will add to the cost of business.
Addressing journalists in her office yesterday, Director of Commercial Shipping Services of Shippers Council; Mrs Dabney Shall-Holma said that the CTN cost has nothing to do with additional cost to importers or exporters. She said that the money is expected to be paid by the shipping lines, who according to her are already charging Nigerians for it.
"It comes out of payments that are already collected or payable per consignment, whether the Shippers Council introduces cargo tracking note or not, shipping companies will continue to collect this taxation, the $US25 per container and all the other listing are expected to come from the already existing freight taxation collected by the shipping lines on Nigerian freight" she said.
Shall-Holma said the shipping lines and agents are trying to fight off the implementation of CTN because they are aware that it will address wastages in the system and create choices for the shipper.
According to her, the charges released in the document published by the shippers council recently was meant to guide shipping lines and agencies in the preparation of their documents.
"They are trying to truncate the ICTN because they are the same shipping companies dealing with all the 18 countries in West and Central Africa implementing cargo tracking note, and in those countries they pay 65Euro per TEU, the lowest cost is 35Euros. But here we are charging $US25 per TEU, which is less than a quarter of the 65Euros charged by other countries, but they are not worried about that because they know that Nigeria controls 75% of the cargoes".
She however maintained that: "The issue of transparency is what is causing the problems here, they don't want you to know how much they are charging you per unit, but we are insisting"
"They know that once Nigerian trade is made transparent they are in trouble because there too many padded costs and add-ons that are not made obvious". "The CTN in Nigeria is different from those being implemented in West and Central Africa, ours is Advance Cargo Declaration that gives you a column where you must put the BAF (Bunker Adjustment Factor) CAF (Currency Adjustment Factor) you must tell us what the surcharge is -whether is it GRI (General Rate Increase) which shipping companies do from time to time and they hide it, when you go for a shipping invoice they will give you a lump sum, it doesn't tell you what the GRI or what the basic freight is".
"They pad it on because they are not giving you the information, the Shippers Council is just trying to identify what the charges are".
She said that henceforth, shipping lines must breakdown the charges they are collecting from importers, saying that, "if you are charging us for piracy, let us know, if you are charging us for any deficiency in the port let us know by writing it down, so that the Federal Government can take remedial actions".
The Shippers Council director noted that the CTN implementation will be too revealing, and this is why shipping lines are trying to play on the psyche of the readers of the documents issued by the Council.
According to her, "they have already been informed that the CTN will come from the freight surcharges, they are aware, but they are resisting it, but they will not resist it to the Nigerian Shippers Council because we know where they are padding on, but they will say it to the Nigerian public and the organised private sector, so that they can create anxiety in the industry and generate the conflicts we are getting because people are already writing and calling".
She encouraged Nigerians, especially the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and other relevant stakeholders not to be deceived or used by the shipping lines against the CTN.
She said they should not be afraid of cargo tracking note today, because it is extremely rigid and controlled so that maritime fraud will no longer be possible, according to her CTN can now block leakages and wastages.
"The multinationals know what they are doing, players in the industry know what they are doing and some of them are very smart at what they do" she said.
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