•Meets with freight forwarders

By Godfrey Bivbere & Providence Ayanfeoluwa

Following freight forwarders threat to shut port operations over the recent hike in charges by terminal operators, the Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, yesterday intervened to find solution of the lingering crisis.

Vanguard gathered that the Council held a meeting with the aggrieved freight forwarders under the aegis of the Association of Concerned Freight Forwarders And Transporters, ACFF&T, led by its Vice President,  Ndubuisi Uzoegbo, where officials of the Council prevailed on the aggrieved agents to shelved the planned strike.

Recall that the terminal operators had increased its various port charges with effect from last Monday, October 16th, 2023, which freight forwarders said ranged between 200 and 500 per cent mark-up on the previous rates.

However, Vanguard learnt that the industrial action was temporarly shifted by one week to enable further intervention by the leadership of the NSC in another meeting with the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive  Officer, CEO, of NSC, Emmanuel Jime and Director of Regulatory Services, Ifeoma  Ezedinma.

Speaking with Vanguard on the issue, a member of ACFF&T, Jonny Ubaka, confirmed that the meeting help to soot frayed nerves.

The freight forwarders  who were guest at Maritime Reporter Association of Nigeria, MARAN Roundtable in Lagos, had said that storage charges which used to be N15,120 after 14 days has now been increased to N90,000.

Uzeogbo also explained that with the new charges when  implemented fully will triple the cost of imported goods or outright abandonment of such imports since the importers cannot afford the new charges.  This, he added will further drive up inflation which has been on the rise since this year.