Shippers Council To Hold Sub-Regional Conference On Port Concession

Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and the Union of African Shippers’ Councils (UASC) in collaboration with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) would hold a two-day Sub-Regional workshop and joint standing committee meeting of UASC on Tuesday and Wednesday next week in Abuja.

The workshop  takes place at Sherathon hotel, Abuja, with the theme; “Port Concession in West and Central Africa; Impact on Economies of member states of the sub-region” is geared towards proffering solutions to challenges facing maritime transportation in the sub-region.

Some objectives of the conference include; appraising the state of maritime transportation in West and Central Africa vis-à-vis other regions of the world, assessing the implementation of World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreements (TFA) and issues relating to port operations, advocating for the development and maintenance of critical trade support infrastructure that could promote efficiency, competitiveness and cost reduction in carriage of goods as well as linkages to other markets.

The workshop would also scrutinize the state of Maritime Transport in West and Central Africa: UNCTAD’s viewpoint; Sealink: A Panacea to boosting intra-African Trade; charges, surcharegs and related costs of carriage of goods; Evacuation of IMO Container weighing regime Verified Gross Mass (VAM) and impact on shipping services/businesses.

Recall that UASC as a specialized organ of the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) comprises nineteen Shippers Councils and similar organizations of West and Central African countries.

In the last three years, under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Nigerian Shippers Council has hosted the sub-regional workshop that has gone a long way in the reduction of the incidence of transport cost on the economies of West and Central African nations