2018 of unfulfilled potential in Nigeria’s maritime sector
By PORTS ACCESS ROADS Q1
THE year began on a sour note has fire outbreak ravaged sections of the Tin-Can Island Ports (TCIP) terminal in Apapa, Lagos State. The fire outbreak led to pandemonium at a popular container complex around the PTML terminal as fire burned 40 container offices.
Also, earlier in the day, a similar fire outbreak happened at the popular Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) building popularly known as ‘National’, also in Tin Can Island Port second gate. The fire outbreak affected several offices. Both buildings affected in the fire outbreak belonged to the Seaview Properties Limited, a subsidiary of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA).
While the clearing agents and freight forwarders were still counting their losses in the new year day inferno, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), in a statement signed on the 29th of January, 2018, issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to remove all trucks parked or abandoned on Oshodi-Apapa Dual Carriage and make all access roads to the nation’s seaports motorable or the port workers will begin a nationwide strike. However, its year end and the issue of bad port access roads still plague the nation’s ports development.
By February 2018, the issue of intermodal means of cargo evacuation at the nations ports was on the front burner of national discusses, and on the 5th of February 2018, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) disclosed that plans are underway for the corporation to deploy between 15 to 20 locomotive wagons to the nation’s seaports to ease cargo evacuation processes.
According to a statement signed on the 5th of February, 2018 by the General Manager, Corporate & Strategic Communications of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Abdullahi Goje, the top echelon of the NPA and the NRC had inspected terminals in the Apapa port to look at ways of reviving full rail evacuation of cargoes at the ports.
However, despite efforts aimed at intermodal means of cargo evacuation, the ports continued to be rocked by congestion issues and the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) on the 11th of February, 2018 said its members waived a princely sum of N1.5 billion on 500 trapped containers carrying power equipment belonging to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Towards the end of the first quarter of 2018, the resistance to the reform agenda of President Mohammadu Buhari brought about confusion at the nation’s premier maritime training institution, the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron as the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, during an oversight visit, ordered the immediate sack of 83 workers of the academy over recruitment irregularities observed in their 2016 employment processes.
The reform agenda being implemented by the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi through the Rector of the Academy, Commodore Emmanuel Duja Effedua led to over 8000 petitions flooding the National Assembly.
EASE OF DOING BUSINESS IMBROGLIO Q2
By the beginning of 2018 Q2, agents under the aegis of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and the Ports & Terminal Multiservices Ltd (PTML) were at daggers drawn over criteria for entry into port’s terminal in Nigeria. The PTML had introduced an Access Card regime for entry into its terminal, which NAGAFF faulted, claiming the policy is detrimental to the Ease of Doing Business policy of the Federal Government. The issue, like many others, has become an imbroglio as agents still go into PTML with Access Card, even when the NPA issues a Port Pass for entry into seaport terminals.
While the issue of Access Card continued to tear agents and PTML management apart at the Tin-Can end of the ports, the NPA in early June, threatened to drag to the Presidency, government agencies breaching the Presidential order on Ease of Doing Business at the port.
The NPA issued this warning following incessant complaints from stakeholders about the flagrant flouting and disregard to the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) directive which had streamlined the activities of all agencies in the nation’s seaports to achieve the 24-hour cargo clearance. Despite the threat by the NPA, complaints of agencies sacked from the ports harassing importers continued to plague cargo evacuation at the ports.
Also by the close of the second quarter, the much awaited Floating Dock reportedly said to be worth N50bn and belonging to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) quietly arrived the nation’s shores.
SEAPORT CONGESTION CRISIS Q3
By the beginning of 2018 Q3, the port community was thrown into a state of chaos as the withdrawal of services by truckers at the Apapa and Tin-Can ports over failure of the NPA truck call-up system led to congestion at the ports. The Federal Government was forced to summon truckers to Abuja for a meeting even as the STOAN warned that Nigerian importers may face imposition of congestion surcharge running into over $120m per annum by international shipping lines.
Following the uproar that greeted the congestion in the ports, the NPA, in a face-saving gesture, suspended four shipping companies for ten days over their inability to upgrade their holding bays capacities. The suspended shipping companies were Maersk Line, Cosco Shipping, APS and Lansal.
With congestion paralyzing the ports, traffic gridlock resurfaced on all major roads leading in and out of Apapa and Tin-Can ports, forcing the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to order a 72-hour joint operation by security operatives to clear the gridlock. Six months after the Vice President gave that directive, long queues of articulated vehicles can still be seen dotting the highways and streets in Lagos, all in their quest to enter into the ports.
By the close of 2018 Q3, the NPA was enmeshed in a $44.8m Warri contract mess following allegation of fraud and corruption in the award of the Warri Channel dredging contract to Dredging International Services Nigeria (DISN) Limited, a subsidiary of Dredging International Services (Cyprus) Limited, the company that was involved in the $20 million bribery of ex-officials of the NPA. The confusion surrounding the contract saw the NPA, Dredging International Services Nigeria and Dredging Atlantic Limited (DAL) point accusing fingers at each other over the Warri Channel dredging contract.
Also, towards the tail end of 2018 Q3, the issue of insecurity on the nation’s waterways reared its ugly head as pirates kidnapped 12 crew members from a Swiss cargo vessel in the Niger Delta region of Nigerian waters, taking away 12 of the 19 crew onboard the vessel. Massoel Shipping said its vessel, MV Glarus, was carrying wheat from Nigeria’s capital to Port Harcourt when it was attacked by pirates.
While security agents searched endlessly for the MV Glarius missing 12, on the 27th of September, 2018, the organized labor made do its threat to embark on strike by shutting down all government institutions, including the ports. The strike action embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) grounded port operations at Nigeria’s two busiest ports, the Apapa ports and Tin-Can ports, thereby compounding the already stretched situation at the ports.
INLAND WATERWAYS TRAGEDIES Q4
With the strike action crippling ports activities, and cargoes getting trapped inside the ports, CMA-CGM, a foreign shipping company announced the imposition of $400 on all Lagos bound cargoes. According to a circular issued by CMA-CGM, the congestion surcharge of $400 dollars per 20ft and 40ft container will take effect from 15th of October, 2018. The shipping company cited an increase in operational costs and recent service disruption at the ports.
While the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) was locked in deliberations with representatives of the foreign shipping companies over imposition of congestion surcharge, issues surrounding the unsafe nature of the Nigerian inland waterways reached a crescendo in November when the Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Sen. Olorunibe Mamora, narrowly escaped death on Lagos waterways by whiskers when a floating log of wood hit the boat carrying him and his entourage during his inspect of Lagos facilities of the agency.
Before and after that incidence, many boat mishaps have occurred and continued to occur across the nations inland waterways, with the recent Kwara State incidence claiming 12 lives and injuring many. Also in November of 2018, men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) impounded 59 containers of Tramadol and other dangerous drugs at the nation’s busiest ports of Apapa, Tin-Can and Onne.
CONCLUSION
The year 2018 had many issues bordering on port congestion, traffic gridlock, inland waterways accidents, Ease Of Doing Business imbroglio vis-à-vis some agencies of government that have refused to vacate the ports, maritime insecurity, etc; and many of these issues remained unsolved even at the end of the year.
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