Harboursandport.com: Lagos - Over 12,000 vehicles are trapped at the Lagos seaport has accrued demurrage of about N600 billion, as the strike embarked upon by Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders enters its second week.
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| Chairman of SALS, Jonathan Nicol |
Chairman of the
Shippers Association of Lagos State, SALS, Jonathan Nicol, who disclosed today,
said that operators of Ports and Terminal Multi-Services Nigeria Limited, PTML gave
the figures.
Nicol explained
that the Vehicle Identification Number, VIN policy introduced by the Nigeria
Customs Service, NCS is not working.
The SALS Chairman
spoke at the joint press conference with the Ndigboamaka Progressive (Market)
Association to address the problem created by the introduction of VIN by the
NCS.
Nicol who
described the policy as anti-people called for the cancellation of the policy
because of its advert effect on the economy and Nigerians.
According to him,
“PTML said they have 100,000 vehicles in the
terminal presently, 12,000 of which attracts daily demurrage and shipping land
charges that is quite humongous. The demurrages is N600 billion. So we cannot
continue to accommodate such expenses anymore. “If a policy is not working and
it is anti-people, we should discard such policies. The president (Ndigboamaka)
has said that if the VIN regime should be discarded. In fact, they should
suspend it immediately, and they should make sure that all the trapped vehicles
are given accelerated clearance from the port, without major demurrages because
problems were not created by importers.
“I
have received complaints that second-hand vehicles imported into this country
are creating a nuisance. But most of these vehicles when they are cleared, they are
sent to the mechanic workshop where they are worked on and they get certificated
and even pass their vehicles inspection.
“So
we do not bring scraps, we bring vehicles that will help Nigeria to have their
own vehicle because no individual with the collects salary will be able to
afford to buy a brand new vehicle expect that individual is doing something
else,” he noted.
Speaking earlier, President of Ndigboamaka, Jude
Ringo Okeke, noted that the freight forwarders have been having a bitter
experience with the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, and other government agencies
in the clearing of their consignments.
Okeke said the barrage of complaints has reached
its pinnacles, and that they cannot bear it.
In his
words, “At our recent meeting, we confirmed
the collaboration with the Shippers Association Lagos State as our trade
partner to solve our common port problems, such as arbitrary detention, charges
from the Shipping Lines, and Terminal storage charges running into billions
of naira in our country.”
He called for “the
regime of the VIN to be suspended indefinitely until after-effects
of Covid-19 which we braced up to support the government and kept the port
open during the 2 months lockdown period. The introduction of VIN was not to
the knowledge of Importers.
“Our Agents have
limited authority to commit us in decision making. We are with them in this VIN
regime. So, the Nigeria Customs Service should serve the importers to our
satisfaction at all times. We want to be consulted in major decisions
affecting our businesses.
“We bring in 60 per cent of goods into the country
and employ over 10 million Nigerians and evolve them in training to enable
have their own businesses.
“How
else can we support the government? Most of our members are working with
bank loans which attract high interests rate and the government policies
are making it impossible for us to pay back the loans,” he noted.
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