Stakeholders Bemoan Arbitrary Charges At Ports

Stakeholders in the maritime industry have lamented arbitrary charges by shipping companies and terminal operators at the ports.
The stakeholders at a one-day Free Clinic on Arbitrary Shipping Charges which held on Tuesday in Lagos and which was organised by the Nigerian Shippers' Council (NSC) in collaboration with Akabogu and Associates Solicitors, complained of  the high port charges imposed on them.

Stakeholders in the maritime industry have lamented arbitrary charges by shipping companies and terminal operators at the ports.
The stakeholders at a one-day Free Clinic on Arbitrary Shipping Charges which held on Tuesday in Lagos and which was organised by the Nigerian Shippers' Council (NSC) in collaboration with Akabogu and Associates Solicitors, complained of  the high port charges imposed on them.
On his part, President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGGAF);Mr Eugene Nweke, said that the arbitrary charges had become a recurrent decimal at the ports.
Nweke said that seven per cent of port levy being imposed on the shippers was meant for the concessionaires to put the port in shape.
“Since the concession of the port six years ago, the shippers still pay the seven per cent port levy, which is an arbitrary charge,'' he said.
He said that the Terminal Handling Charges (THC) were supposed to be paid by the shipping companies to the terminal operators.
“Terminal handling charges had been charged and paid by the carriers to the terminal operators, but they still come back to collect the charges from the shippers."
He said that the Nigerian Shippers' Council had the mandate to publish charges.
Mr Olu Ogunojemite, a retired Customs Comptroller and  maritime Information and Communication Technology (ICT) consultant, said that there were formal and informal charges at the ports, adding that the informal charges were more than the formal charges
Ogunojemite said that the single window system introduced by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) would solve the arbitrary charges in the industry.
He called for synergies among stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the problem of arbitrary charges.   
Similarly, the National Coordinator of Save Nigerian Freight Forwarders, Mr Chiazo Peter, , suggested that the shippers' council should operate independently, according to the law which established it.
“NSC should be the voice of the sector, because they are the shippers. They have the right to regulate charges levied on importers and exporters,'' he said
Peter blamed the council for not carrying out its mandatory function on regulation of charges by the shipping companies.
Mr Victor Oyengbadu, a maritime lawyer, said that the terminal and shipping charges paid by importers did not conform with international standard.
Oyengbadu noted that the concession of the port to private owners was responsible for the arbitrary charges.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the NSC, Executive Secretary, Capt. Adamu Biu, said that the clinic was organised to address the issue of arbitrary charges at the ports.
Biu said that the arbitrary charges had become a problem in the maritime sector, and that the council was studying it to come out with a recommendation to solve the problem.
He assured that issues of shipping charges, terminal and container charges would be looked into.