The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has vowed to stop payment of containers deposit before the end of first quarter of next year.
The executive secretary of NSC, Barrister Hassan Bello stated this on the sideline of the meeting of head of maritime agencies held at the headquarters of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) yesterday.
Bello informed that shippers pays a whopping N1.7 billion every year on containers deposit which adversely adds to the cost of doing business in the country.
Bello who blamed lack of holding bays and the gridlock at the port premises for the bane said the council is already in talk with National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria (NAICON) to see how they can get insurance for the Shippers to cover cost of containers.
According to him "shippers pays N120,000 for containers deposit that's about N1.7 billion every year for container deposit and this is adding to the cost of doing business and this is not the fault of the shipper but because he cannot return the container within the specified time, the roads are clog the holding bays are not working so how can he bear that risks
"We want indemnity system and we have already talked with NAICON there must insurance penetration we could extend the marine insurance to cover containers .
"And by the first quarter of next year there will not be payment of containers deposit.
Speaking earlier, host of the meeting and Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh revealed that the Deep Blue project that is expected to address Nigeria's maritime security issues should be operational by September or October this year
In his words, "Exactly one month ago, we commenced the meeting of the Heads of maritime agencies to deliberate on common area of challenges.
"Today, one of the issues discussed is about the port community system. We have agreed to set up a committee that will look into the operationality of the port community system.
"We also discussed the 24 hours operation of our ports. We observed that port efficiency and effectiveness cannot be achieved without 24 hours port operation.
"We have also agreed that at the next meeting, we will have an action plan which will come with deliverables and key performance indicators to see how our ports will run on a 24 hours basis.
"The issue of multi-modal means of cargo evacuation was also discussed, and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has been mandated to ensure professionalism in movement of cargoes by barges.
"We also agreed to co-opt the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) into this meeting in our next meeting because rail evacuation of cargoes is very important for efficient port operation. So far, we are focusing on road, inland waterways and the rail means of cargo evacuation at our ports.
"We also talked about the issue of maritime security which has been lingering for some months now. The Nigerian Maritime Administration the Safety Agency (NIMASA) revealed during the meeting that more than 85 percent of the assets of the Deep Blue project are already in the country. What is left is the local component which includes logistics and training.
"Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have not been able to send personnel abroad to go for training for the Deep Blue project.
"Most of the Deep Blue assets are highly sophisticated equipment tailor made for Nigerian terrain. That is why it is only the manufacturers of these assets that can deliver the required training for those that will man these assets.
"We have agreed to send personnel for this training by this month, August; so that Deep Blue project can commence operation by September or October of this year." He said
Also speaking the managing director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman while reacting to a question raised about lack of cooperation between the presidential task team and the agency, said the NPA is working with the task team to help them identify their jurisdiction in other to avoid overlapping functions.
She said: "I'm curious as to the specific areas where there have been lack of cooperation between NPA and the Presidential Task force.
"What we sought to do with PTF is to identify that they have jurisdiction with the port access roads, but not the ports. If there are any overlapping functions they would take actions to curb them. However, it is important for PTF to understand that the role of port operations still domiciles with Nigerian Ports Authority", she said.
She stressed that no port system can be efficient without multimodal transport system, noting that the traffic gridlock that characterize Nigerian port access roads would continue until there are sufficient linkages with railways, inland waterways and piping to complement the road mode.
"No matter what PTF does to address the traffic gridlock, if all port stakeholders and the government do not recognize the need to deploy multimodal transport system the gridlock would remain," Usman said.
The NPA Managing Director also noted that part of the deliberations during the meeting centered on the possibility of using barges to move containers of some port users, especially those importing thousands of containers and willing to convey the containers via barges to Onitsha.
"We can't decongest a port location with over 1.3million containers by road. We must fast track the process of multimodal transport system and this government is keen in prioritizing that and we are all providing the necessary support," she posited.
She equally admonished Nigerian Customs Service to fast track the process of auctioning cargoes".
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