By Godwin Oritse

A study has blamed the high cost of doing business at the nation’s seaports on the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, and other government agencies, claiming that Customs processes are responsible for not less than 82.1 per cent of the charges incurred by consignees.

The study was conducted by Akintola Williams  Deloitte, accounting firm

The firm, it was learnt, said in the report  that the financial implication of the various charges on an imported laden 20 feet container shipped from China and delivered to the consignee’s warehouse in Nigeria amounted to N6.5 million, under the “best case with demurrage as 15 days”.

The firm’s study of the Nigerian ports stated: “Assuming a 20 feet container with goods worth N44.42 million ($100,000), the analysis show that 82.1 per cent of the cost to consignees are made to the Customs as import duty, 13.8 per cent to the shipping companies as freight charges, and only 1.8 per cent paid to terminal operators.

“The challenges faced at the ports are mostly borne by the terminal operators who invest heavily into the ports yet earn little relative to the size of the investments made.”

File Photo: Senior Customs officers

The study had categorized the services in the cargo shipping, delivery, and clearing processes into three, namely marine services, port services, and logistics services.

Marine services include marine transport and port navigational services; port services are container handling and storage services, as well as container examination services; and logistics services, inland transport.

Industry players and their respective services were includes  shipping lines and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), rendering marine transport and port navigational services under marine services, Standard Organization of Nigeria, (SON), takes more than enough samples of imported cargoes for testing in their laboratory.

Port services, according to the study, have terminal operators providing container handling and storage services, and the Customs Service, container examination services.

Trucking companies were identified by the study as providers of logistics services.

Consequently, the study broke down the N6.5 million total cost thus: 13.8 per cent incurred on marine fees, including freight charges to the shipping line at $2,000.00, refundable container deposit fees, and varying demurrage charges; and port fees incurred at 1.8 per cent and 82.1 per cent, respectively, on terminal operators and the Customs.

The study explained that the 1.8 per cent earned by terminal operators came from terminal handling charges at N80,000 ($180), varying storage, Customs examination charges at N27,000 ($61), delivery charges at N5,500 ($12), and stevedoring charged to the shipping line.

The 82.1 per cent the Customs raked in came from import duty at one per cent, one per cent Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) surcharge, seven per cent Port Development Levy surcharge on import duty, 0.5 per cent ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) surcharge, and five per cent Value Added Tax (VAT).

Logistics services took 2.3 per cent of the N6.5 million, with road haulage earning 1.1 per cent of the 2.3 per cent or N70,000 ($158); and the remaining 1.2 per cent of the 2.3 per cent or N80,000 ($180) was recorded as clearing fees earned by the Customs agent.