Waivers, Tariff Structures For Eastern Ports, Dry Ports Under way

Determined to ease the traffic congestion on the Lagos ports, the Federal Government is working on a comprehensive waiver structure to enhance the patronage of the Eastern ports by Nigerian shippers.

A source in the Federal Ministry of Transportation told MMS Plus that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) had been directed to swing into action in this regard.

Some of the Eastern ports set to benefit from this development include; Warri port, Burutu port, Sapele port, Onne port,  Escravos and Forcados petroleum terminals, among others.

In view of the recent revelation that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) over the years has failed to structure import duty collection to encourage shippers at the Eastern ports to patronize the ports or make shippers to choose the ports as ports of destination for their cargoes, a committee comprising all the stakeholders in the port tariff pricing could be on the way with NPA as the pivot point.

Data from NPA shows that the Lagos ports comprising the Lagos Ports Complex (LPC), Apapa and the Tin Can Island Ports (TCIP), Apapa handled 97 percent of the total containers that berthed in Nigerian ports in 2016. Only 3 percent was cleared in Rivers port, Onne Port, Delta port, Calabar port, Warri port, Koko port.

Stakeholders have severally blamed the concentration on Lagos ports on shallow waters, long channels of other ports, politics and industrialization as factors which have necessitated the choice of Lagos as the port of destination for most cargoes.

Meanwhile, this has had significant negative impact on the infrastructure at the Lagos ports, with the overflow effect on the environment, poor port access roads, dilapidated facilities and the increasing loss of patronage of the Nigerian ports by Nigerian shippers and the neighbouring landlocked countries such as Chad, Niger, among others.

In a related development, NPA is developing a tariff structure for cargo haulage by rail and land transport to all the designated Inland Container Depots (ICDs) also called dry ports in the country to encourage the use of the dry ports by shippers. Of particular interest is to ensure that the use of rail system is encouraged to make the cargo delivery cheaper and faster.

This is coming at the time ICD operators have complained about the seeming sabotage of their facilities by the terminal operators, necessitating the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) intervention as the facilitators of the dry ports in the country. As a result, NSC had called a series of meeting of dry ports and terminal operation stakeholders in the country.

MMS Plus gathered that one of such meetings has been scheduled to take place at the Federal Palace Hotels, Victoria, Lagos on January 25^th, 2018.

Fresh facts have emerged to dissipate worries over the re-appointment of a six-man board at the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) as the six members are merely representatives of the six geo-political zones in the country.

The six people appointed into the board are; Hon. Donatus Ozoemena, Benson Edo, Abubakar Tsanni, Mr. Hassan Jonga, Sen. Bisi Oyewo and  Otunba Moshood Tijani were appointed by the Hon. Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi to represent the South-East, South-West, South-South, North East, North-West and North-Central parts of the country.

The President of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (AREFFN) Dr. Frank Ukor made this revelation during an exclusive chat with MMS Plus last week.

“When we read that they appointed some people, we thought the appointment was for the freight forwarders but when I was in Abuja and opportuned to meet the Registrar of CRFFN, Mike Jukwe, I confronted him over this appointment. I learnt that this appointment was done by the Minister to represent the six (6) geo-political zones.

“These people are only representing the six geo-political zones and it is the Minister’s prerogative to make this appointment but the appointment for the freight forwarders hasn’t been done. Once the Ministry and parastatals like NPA make their appointment, those appointed would collaborate with the members from the six geo-political zones to conduct the elections for the freight forwarders” Ukor said.

On Practitioners Operating Fees (POF) collection, he said, “The Minister has given CRFFN the mandate to begin the collection of POF. However, it is strange that this collection hasn’t started” Ukor added.