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  • 2022
  • November
  • Page 159
Extortion: Lagos bans military checkpoints in Apapa, outlaws nine illegal checkpoints, As VIN protest lingers winners losers emerge, Over the past few years, players in the freight industry mounted a consistent demand for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to overhaul imported vehicles valuation system, on the heels of recurring conflicts between them and customs valuation officers. For the majority of customs brokers and freight forwarders, the harmonisation and standardisation of the Customs’ valuation system was urgently needed. In the absence of a standardised valuation system, Customs officials were accused of high handedness and extortion through the use of deductive valuation. Responding to this demand for a standardised valuation system, the Nigeria Customs Service last week introduced an e-valuation system known as Vehicles Identification Number (VIN-valuation), being an artificial intelligence manual that is wholly self acting, utilising world class data which drives documentation processes in an electronically digitised format. With the introduction of the VIN valuation system, many expected standards in Customs valuation processes to be above board. However, rather than commend Customs for the bold initiative, majority of those who have clamoured for the change and who are primary beneficiaries of its laudable gains began to complain about the process, taking it to an unexpected height through organised protest, and calling for its rejection. Last week, the protest got to an unprecedented level and clearing agents decided to embark on an indefinite strike to express their displeasure over the newly introduced Customs VIN. With the clearing agents refusing to clear imported vehicles that had arrived at the Port and Terminal Multiservices Ltd (PTML) and Tin-Can Island ports, many vehicles became trapped inside the ports, thereby accumulating demurrages and storage charges that run into millions of Naira. Winners With so many imported vehicles trapped inside the ports due to the ongoing strike by clearing agents (which is in its second week), some port operators are currently smiling to the bank while there is confusion inside the ports. Top among the operators who are benefitting from the ongoing protest are the foreign shipping companies who are making millions of Dollars on trapped cargoes in the form of demurrage charges. In line with shipping rules, demurrage charges are billed on every container carried by a ship once a ship is delayed due to reasons beyond the shipping company. “Once a ship arrives at a port and cannot discharge her contents due to issues beyond the shipping company, the ship starts billing the containers that she is carrying what is called demurrage charges. For the number of days that the ship waits to discharge her contents, she bills every container that she is carrying demurrage charges. “The strike by the clearing agents over the VIN controversy has already lasted one full week and we are already into the second week, yet the strike over roro cargoes is still on. Vehicles have been offloaded by ships at these port terminals and those vehicles should have been cleared to create space for newer arrivals at the port terminals. However, due to the ongoing strike, these vehicles have not been cleared. Definitely, we have a problem. “If this strike persists, it will get to a point ships won’t be able to discharge cargoes at the port terminals anymore because the whole port terminal will be filled with uncleared imported vehicles and the ships will start billing demurrages on the vehicles that they are carrying. What this means is that while the clearing agents are protesting and refusing to clear imported vehicles, the shipping lines will be making more money on the cargoes that they are carrying,” a shipping agent who wouldn’t want his name in print told the Nigerian Tribune exclusively. Another set of winners while the strike lasts at the ports is the port terminal operators. At Nigerian port terminals, newly arrived cargoes have free storage days that they are not billed what is called storage charges. However, after the expiration of the grace period which varies between three days and five days, the port terminals start billing uncleared cargoes storage charges. With the ongoing port strike over the Customs VIN valuation spiralling into the second week, trapped vehicles are already incurring storage charges. Except the clearing agents suspend the strike and return to work, many of the trapped cargoes will have to pay through their noses to get cleared from the ports. Losers For every strike action at the ports, the cargo owners are always at the receiving end. Cargo owners, who have made orders for cargoes to be brought to Nigerian ports, pay extra charges once there is disruption to the cargo clearance logistic cycle. In 2021 alone, importers paid around N200 billion as storage and demurrage charges due to server breakdown at the ports, National President of Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics in Nigeria (APFFLON), Chief Frank Ogunojemite, explained. According to the APFFLON National President, “The recurring server failure in Customs operations grossly hindered freight forwarders and importers from taking delivery of their consignments in good time, even as shipping and terminal charges accrue.” He said for over two weeks the server experienced downtime, leading to importers and their agents paying over N200 billion on demurrage to shipping lines and terminals. “Looking at the number of vessels that arrived sometime last year and multiplying it by the number of containers in the vessels, which is about 2,000, you will discover that we paid over N200 billion in just two weeks of the server malfunction. “So, the strike on VIN already lasted a week and we have started counting the second week. Demurrages and storage charges are piling up. Importers will pay for these disruptions because the foreign shipping lines and the terminal operators won’t release any cargo if these monies are not paid,” Ogunojemite said. Another set of losers at the ports once there is a cargo clearance disruption is the Nigeria Customs Service. With a hefty revenue target of N3.1 trillion placed on the Service, Customs needs every available time to collect revenue on imported units of containers at the ports. Any form of disruption that leads to containers not being examined or duty paid for, the Customs loses precious man hours in achieving its revenue target. Aside from losing out on revenue that should have accrued into the government coffers, the nation’s ports, during protest by clearing agents, battles with efficiency, which is the hallmark of leading ports globally. When a port lacks efficiency, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) also loses out on expected revenue as the percentage of cargoes that ought to have been handed within a specific period of time are not always met. This is due to a drop in cargo throughput volume since already discharged cargoes have failed to leave the ports as at when due., improved port efficiency, Customs server breaksdown, apm alleged extortion in Eto call-up, Nigeria’s manual port operations , APM Terminals Apapa, ports cargoes, Shippers council, Rivers Port, Lagos ports, demurrage, Return of Apapa gridlock, tank farms, Tin-Can port road
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