Shipping Manifest

Shippers' Council makes case for consolidated shipping charge

Against the backdrop of the alleged existence of numerous untoward charges in the maritime industry, particularly on cargoes, the Nigerian Shippers’Council (NSC) has advocated for a consolidated charge system.

Speaking at a Free Clinic on Arbitrary Shipping Charges organised by the NSC and the law firm of Akabogu and Associates, the Director Commercial Shipping Service, NSC, Mrs. Dabney Shall-Holma, said that a consolidated charge system will put an end to the issue of arbitrary shipping charges complaints between importers and shipping companies on the one hand, and freight forwarders and terminal operators on the other hand.

Shall-Holma stated that Nigeria is the only country in the West and Central Africa sub-region that has not adopted the consolidated charge system.

She noted that the consolidated charge system will lay to rest issues of discrepancies in the payment of Customs duties and other charges by importers and their agents. 

L - R: Representative of the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers' Council (NSC) and Director, Legal Services, NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello; Chairman of the event and Chairman, Port Consultative Council (PCC), Otunba Kunle Folarin; and Principal Partner, Akabogu and Associates, Mr. Emeka Akabogu, at a Free Clinic on Arbitrary Shipping Charges recently organised by the NSC and the the law firm of Akabogu and Associates at the Conference Hall, SHIPPERS' TOWERS, Apapa, Lagos.  

“The major problem we have had in this industry is that of identifying what is chargeable and ensuring that the service providers abide by what is chargeable and indeed determining where the charge is to be remitted. If a terminal charge is to be remitted for instance, in all previous negotiation with terminal operators and shipping companies, we have come to an understanding that you charge only at the point of delivery and the charge must be consolidated, so that you are charging for both terminal delivery, you are also charging for transfer, if it is at the instance of the shipper, you are charging for handling, you are charging for documentation and other administrative fees but it should all be one consolidated charge. Have we gotten the support to enforce that and penalise all these breaches? the answer is no,” Shall-Holma said.

She noted that Nigeria can only implement a consolidated charge regime if there is synergy between all parties involved in the logistics chain process, adding that a clearing house will be needed so that when payments are made at the point of delivery they can be remitted to the different accounts.

Shall-Holma disclosed that the NSC has already forwarded a document on benchmark on charges to the Federal Government for approval, so as to put an end to the issue of arbitrary charges within the port industry.

In his keynote address, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, NSC, Capt. Adamu Biu, said that the clinic is meant to afford stakeholders the opportunity to make valuable inputs that will help in unmasking the source of cost elements responsible for high port cost in Nigeria.

Biu, who was represented by the Director of Legal Services, NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello, said that the issue of arbitrary local shipping charges and high cost of doing business at the Nigerian ports has been a contentious subject matter at different maritime fora.

“In the past, the Nigerian Shippers' Council intervened in order to harmonise the local shipping charges. This was as a result of public outcry that trailed the arbitrary increases in local shipping charges in the early 90s,” Biu said.

Meanwhile, the clamour by the NSC to become a commercial regulator for the port industry yesterday gathered more momentum from participants at the Free Clinic on Arbitrary Shipping Charges.

The participants, who took turns to speak at the event, said that there is need for government to establish an economic regulator for the maritime industry to regulate charges in the industry.

The participants alleged that certain vested interests at the Federal Ministry of Transport, allegedly, are bent on sabotaging the NSC’s effort to transform into a commercial regulator for the maritime sector.