Give kudos to NIMASA, Shippers Council, NPA

By Godfrey Bivbere

As 2018 maritime year comes to an end, sector stakeholders and operators have indicated that regulatory and operational environment worsened during the year gone by.

They highlighted the difficult operational environment leading to the loss of revenue and man-hours, occasioned by worse level of congestion at the ports in Lagos, leading to frustration by importers and exporters as well as their agents.

They blamed some of the government agencies for their contribution to making port services more cumbersome.

National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Tony Iju Nwabunike, speaking with Vanguard Maritime Report  said, “2018 has been a tiring year for all of us in our industry because so many things were not in order.

“Some government agencies multiplied themselves in so many forms trying to drive revenue apparently to meet targets federal government actually gave them. “So I am of the opinion that the Federal Government should not give target but should focus on trade facilitation. It should be on the level of where government agents should not be compelled to do things in order to impress the Federal Government or to meet their target thereby putting so much pressure into the industry.

“So many other government agencies in this maritime year did some good jobs, like Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, which has been working a little bit better than before, Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC have been almost excellent, Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA is improving every day. But the NPA needs to checkmate shipping companies and terminal operators.

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“Every single ministry responsible for the regulation of their operations need to wake up by ensuring the regulation of their levies and other charges.

“Then Standard Organization of Nigeria, SON, that people are still complaining about in terms of documentation and other part of their operations.

“Then another knock in the maritime industry this year is the Police that is having all the powers to go and block containers on the road after ports maritime police have done examination in the port, thus duplicating the work of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS.”

President of the new faction of ANLCA, Emenike  Nwokeoji, said a major problem faced by industry operators this year, especially in the Lagos area, is the traffic situation at the ports access roads and the vicinities.

Nwokeoji said that there is no regulation of the operations of truck drivers and as a result they have become lords unto themselves and have taken over the port access roads in Apapa.

He said the truckers now use the roads as their parking space and in some cases turn the roads their workshop for repair of the trucks.

For the Eastern ports, he said they are becoming busier as a result of the congestion in Lagos, adding, however, that this has brought some level of pressure to port operations there.

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But he said the situation in the Eastern ports is nothing compared to that of Lagos.

Also reviewing the year, a top executive of one of the terminal operators who spoke to  Vanguard Maritime Report  on the condition of anonymity, complained of the chaotic traffic situation that made port services almost impossible, though there was slight increase in cargo throughput at the terminal.

He also complained about the activities of some government agencies at the port which affected smooth port operations, stressing the need for the roads to be speedily addressed to help curb the traffic gridlock.

On his part, Charles Okorefe, Chief Executive Officer,  Kamany Marine Services Limited, also lamented the traffic gridlock, noting that the reconstruction of the road alone will not bring permanent solution to the problem.

Okorefe called on the federal government to pay serious attention to linking of the port to rail being built across the country.

He also called on government to work at ensuring that the ports in the South-east and South-south are functional, noting that it is only when these ports become fully functional that the pressure currently faced in Lagos would reduce.

Putting the above into consideration, Okorefe explained that 2018 has been a very bad year for maritime business and thank God it is coming to an end. He expressed hope that 2019 would be better for business in the sector.