Eromosele Abiodun
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Hassan Bello, has reiterated the importance of the Status of Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL convention) to the Union of African Shippers Council (UASC) members.
He stressed that the NSC would ensure that the convention was enforced.
Bello, stated this at the UASC Sub-regional Summit on Unfair Shipping Surcharges and High Local Shipping Charges at the Ports of West and Central Africa Sub-region in Abuja.
He added that the sub-region must not lag behind in making its ports more users friendly and attractive to international trade. According to Bello, the domestication and implementation of FAL Convention, a remedial instrument aimed at facilitating maritime traffic, in the member states, would prevent unnecessary delays in maritime traffic.
According to him, “It aids cooperation between governments, secure highest practicable degree of uniformity in formalities and other procedures and has reduced the number of declarations required by public authorities. The sub-region must not lag behind in making our ports user friendly and attractive to international trade.
“Therefore, we need to work assiduously to ensure that necessary measures are put in place to reap the full benefits of the FAL convention by improving service delivery at our ports. More so, concrete actions will greatly minimise delays and reduce cost of doing business in the region,” Bello added, while explaining that for the FAL Convention to be effectively implemented, there was need for domestic legislation to give effect to the provisions.
Bello added that it was important to pay close attention to the global Sulphur limit in fuel oil regulation, as this could lead to increase in freight rates with majority of the cost being passed on to consumers.
He said, “It is estimated that the total impact to consumers’ wallets in 2020 could be around 240 billion dollars. As a result of varying cost factors, shippers will be forced to make a choice about how to stay competitive.
“As we are all aware, freight rates to the sub-region are relatively high compared to other parts of the world due to low vessel ownership in the sub-region. The resource persons and panellists will chart a path toward formulating suitable strategies that will conveniently address the challenges hindering the efficient service delivery and competiveness at our ports.”
He also urged for recommendations that would enhance competition and efficiency at the various ports. Furthermore, he said the NSC in collaboration with other government agencies had helped Nigerian importers save N2 billion demurrage charges from foreign shipping companies.
According to the Shippers’ Council’s boss, about N2 billion has been saved through the confirmation of reasonableness of demurrage and freight rates by the CBN.
“In order to reduce capital flight, the CBN sought for the assistance of shippers’ council as economic regulator to confirm reasonableness of freight rate and determine reasonableness of demurrage and about N2billion has been saved through the confirmation of the reasonableness of demurrage. We thank CBN for the collaboration,” he said.
Bello, who said the NSC had collapsed shipping charges from 18 to five, also informed the summit that the aim of the council is to reduce the local shipping charges by 35 percent.
He further decried multiples surcharges levied of cargoes destined to West and Central Africa countries by international shipping companies due to some ugly situations in the region, but which remain even after the situation has been arrested.
“Some of the identified surcharges have been prevalent in the sub-region under various nomenclatures such as the Peak Season Surcharge and War Risk Surcharge to mention a few. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), surcharges are supposed to be temporary measure by shipping lines involved in the shipment of goods worldwide to address peculiar challenges of shipping at destination and are subject to removal when the situation normalizes. Regrettably, some of these charges have assumed a permanence without justification or basis for negotiation,’’ he said.
