Freight clearing at the seaports may come to a halt this week if certain conditions are not improved upon by today.
Such conditions include improved banking operations, adherence to directives of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to terminal operators and shipping lines cessation of demurrages and storage charges for 21 days, among others.
The President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Tony Nwabunike, in a telephone interview at the weekend, regretted that while members of the group were trying hard to ensure that businesses at the ports continue smoothly, the operating environment appears not to be safe for members anymore, especially in the area of their health.
Nwabunike said most of the banks around the ports area, where payment for clearing transactions mainly take place have locked up their gates, operating skeletal services. This, he regretted, makes the freight forwarders converge on the entrance, thereby not observing the social distancing rule to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Besides, he said, terminal operators and shipping lines have continued to ignore the directives of the NPA on free 21-day charge on demurrage and storage.
“This development does not guarantee the safety of our members. We will review the situation on Monday (today) and take an appropriate decision whether our members should continue working or not.
We have also instructed our members to keep as evidence, receipts of all payments made to terminal operators and shipping lines for demurrage and storage charges at this period.
We will combine these receipts and process same with the aim of reclaiming such monies from the appropriate quarters after the lockdown.
If shipping companies and terminal operators refuse to abide by the NPA directive, then ANLCA would drag them to court. We will use this to test the will power of NPA to regulate or give directives to concessionaires in the port,” he told The Nation on phone,” he said.
According to the ANLCA chief, the decision to continue the demurrage and storage payment against NPA’s directive bordered on making their clients happy and keeping the economy running.
He explained that the Association was aware that operators also incur running cost at this period as well and with low business, the need to clear goods and deliver client’s consignments is paramount.
Also, the ANLCA Public Relations Officer, PTML Terminal Apapa, Comrade Sulaiman, lamented that it remains impossible to have direct access to the operators, especially those that have not digitalised their system, making it very challenging to book online for consignments to be examined, yet they are charging demurrage.
“The COVID-19 has exposed all of them, let’s just hope they would be able to learn from this, but the irony is that as they continue to learn, we continue to bear the brunt with the importer, the more they delay, the better for them.
Less than 10 percent of the banks are working right now, and there are shipping companies that if you don’t go to the bank, you cannot make payments,” Sulaiman said.
