Shippers’ Council Urges Importers Not To Be Apprehensive Of Cargo Tracking Note

The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has urged shippers not to be apprehensive of the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) regime at the ports, saying it “is extremely rigid and controlled’’.
The Director, Commercial Shipping Services, NSC, Mrs Dabney Shall-Holma, stated this in an interview in Lagos on Friday.
Speaking on account of the apprehension that was credited a section of the organised private sector about the implementation of the CTN, she said: “It will create a lot of profiling and predictable risk assessment for cargo that is coming in to Nigeria.
“So that helped to satisfy a portion of container security and cargo security initiative of the IMO (International Maritime Organisation).
“That is why sometimes we say it is also an aspect of ISPS Code (International Ship and Port Facility Security Code) but cargo ISPS Code, not the Ship ISPS Code or the Port ISPS Code as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and NIMASA (Nigeria Maritime Administration ad Safety Agency) are handling.
“There are three components to this trade. There is the cargo component, ship component and then there is a port component.
“So the trade is resting on a tripod. Nigerian Shippers’ Council as at that time was solely responsible for cargo.
Justifying the choice of the Council for the CTN implementation, the Director said:“So she (NSC) was the only organisation in Nigeria that had the mandate by IMO, World Customs Organisation, World Trade Organisation and the Union of African Shippers’ Council to implement Cargo Tracking Note.
“We have control in everything and that is why we are saying Nigerians should not be afraid of Cargo Tracking Note today because Cargo Tracking Note today is extremely rigid and controlled.
“When information enters today I get to know in the next two hours.
“So, if there is any variance in that information or under declaration, I can tell Nigerian Ports Authority or NIMASA that there is under-declaration somewhere. “
She said that the full implementation of the Cargo Tracking Note would block revenue leakage and prevent fraud and thus increase government’s revenue and ease the tension of doing business in Nigerian ports.
Shall-Holma added that with CTN in place, information on cargoes would be received instantly. 
She also insisted that, contrary to what is being bandied about by Sipping Line Agents, it is not the importers that will pay the administrative cost of CTN; rather it is the carrier and the shipping lines.