Resolving vessel infractions in Nigeria’s ports now takes less than 4 hours – Nigerian Shippers’ Council
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council on Tuesday disclosed that activities of its Port Standing Task Team(PSTT) has made it possible for complaints relating to vessel infractions in the nation’s ports to be resolved between 1 and 4 hours, unlike when it took between 7 and 10 days.
Addressing newsmen at a briefing, the Executive Secretary of the Council, Emmanuel Jime, said that was one of the practical realities of the success that the Team has recorded within the frame of driving Ease of Doing Business in the nation’s ports.
According to Jime, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) in 2021, received and handled 518 complaints, while it handled 100 complaints in the first quarter of 2022, leading to the recovery of N1.07 billion from service providers for consignees in 2021 and N18.49 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
Other successes according to NSC boss, are that the exercise has enhanced the cargo clearance processes, improving on cargo examination and making it possible for each terminal to examine up to an average of 230 boxes daily, up from the 125 boxes it used to be, just as the team’s activities saves the economy at least $20,000 daily in vessel demurrage.
“Some of the successes recorded thus far since my assumption of duty last year, include the following: Supervision of the activities of the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) in the implementation of the Nigerian Ports Process Manual. The activities of the PSTT focused on three cardinal areas, which are; joint vessel boarding, joint cargo examination, and operation free port access roads.
“On joint vessel boarding by mandated government agencies, the activities of the team saved the Nigerian economy average vessel demurrage of $20,000 per day between year 2020 and 2021, which ultimately translates to the sum of $6,540,000.
“Likewise, the average time for resolving complaints with regards to vessel infractions has also considerably reduced from 7-10 days to 1–4 hours. More than 85% of vessels that called at Nigerian ports in 2021 left without any incident, which was not the case in times past.
“On the other hand, as regards compliance with joint cargo examination by all government agencies involved in cargo clearance, the exercise has helped to increase the number of cargos examined per day from 125 to an average of 230 boxes daily per terminal.
“In summary, the implementation of the manual has facilitated the ease of doing business in our ports and it has drastically reduced corruption tendencies,” he said.
Jime also said that the Shippers’ Council collaborated with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on the establishment and operation of domestic export warehouses.
That collaboration, according to the Council Boss, led to the granting of approval for the establishment of 12 domestic export warehouses nationwide.
“Some of the facilities granted approval to begin operations include GEZEWA Commodity Exchange in Kano, MV EHILOMEL, Onne in Rivers State, ESSLIBRA in Ikorodu-Lagos State, Harris Logistics in Lokoja-Kogi State, Sealink Limited in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, Kaduna Inland Dry Port in Kaduna State, AMES-Edo Inland dry Port in Benin-Edo State,” he said.
