THE immediate past President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, Comrade Tony Emmanuel Nted, has described as primitive and unacceptable the Nigeria Customs Service’s, NCS, 100 per cent physical examination of imported goods.

EXECUTIVE Secretary/Chief Executive, Nigerian Shippers’Council, NSC, Hassan Bello, has indicated that competition in the nation’s ports infrastructure is the policy direction towards private sector-led efficiency in Nigeria’s maritime industry.

THE Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, has said that the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has concluded segmentation of importers with a view to separating trade compliant importers from non-compliant importers.

THE Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone “A” of Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, in collaboration with National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has destroyed 58 containers of 225mg Tramadol and other dangerous and unregistered pharmaceuticals with Duty Paid Value, DPV, of N14.7 billion.

AS the concerns over the recent Court of Appeal judgement on the status of oil drilling rigs as the vessel continues, indications have emerged that oil rigs were in the original copy of the Cabotage bill sent to the National Assembly for consideration but was removed during the review.

THE Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Federal Operations Unit, Zone C, Owerri, made 192 seizures with a total Duty Paid Value of over N2billion in the first half of this year, H1’19.

THE Ghana Navy is in hot pursuit of pirates who hijacked a vessel from the Tema anchorage and proceeded towards Togolese waters but abandoned the operation midway. 

THE Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, has concluded plans to challenge the war risk premium slammed on Nigerian shippers by international shipping companies.

SHIPPING firms are concentrating their container charges on Nigerian shippers and their agents, referred to as Customs brokers, because their businesses and operations have been classified as unstructured.

THE Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has engaged the maritime industry’s key stakeholders and leaders in the reappraisal of some key challenges facing operators in the industry. The stakeholder groups comprising the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN, and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, had headed to the NPA to raise issues of concern with the Authority.

MANAGING Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, has said that the development of any port without the complement of adequate rail transportation is a recipe for congestion.

TEN Turkish sailors were taken hostage by armed pirates who attacked a Turkish-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, the vessel’s owner said on Tuesday, adding that another eight sailors were left safely aboard.

MARITIME stakeholders have commended the recently assented Anti-piracy law saying that the law will further boost the economic fortunes of the nation when it finally comes on stream.

THE African Union (AU) during its 22nd summit January has set a period from 2015 – 2025 as the ‘Decade of African Seas and Oceans’ and the date July 25 as the African Day of Seas and Oceans.

EX-STAFF of Transport and Port Management System, TPMS, former operators of the now rested Cargo Tracking Note, CTN, introduced by the Federal Government through the Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, have called on the government to release funds from the over $3.5billion collected within the two years of its operations before it was suspended, to liquidate their outstanding salaries.