Lack of insurance coverage and modern ocean-going barges has made barge operators to lose N500 billion freight business at the port. Annually, about one million containers are ferried by barges on Nigerian waters to off dock terminals as it costs between N400,000 and N500, 000 to ferry a container through the Lagos waterways.
However, findings revealed that some importers have lost some of their consignments ferried by rickety barges as 80 per cent of the vessels manufactured locally do not meet global standards. Bases on this, the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) has warned the operators that without the appropriate insurance cover by a reputable insurance company, their barges would no longer be allowed to operate at the seaports.
Further, it threatened that it would remove some barge operators from its porter over their failure to meet up with standards. Also, the authority said that operators should move from tug and tow craft to efficient self-propelled barges as ship waiting time in the port has been reduced to six hours instead of three weeks, saying that they must come for certification of their barges in order to ascertain the health of the barges they were using to avoid accidents on the nation’s waterways.
Worried by the incessant loss of cargoes, the Managing Director of Scptre Consult, Jayeola Ogamode, a cargo consolidator, told New Tele- graph that importers now preferred to use trucks in order to prevent double losses and charges. He noted that some barges on Nigerian waters were substandard and were mere rust buckets too old to carry heavy loads.
Ogamode said: “It is not cheap to ferry container by waters because you will pay about N500,000 per containers and when it gets to off dock, consignees will still hire trucks and pay close to a million naira within Lagos. These are one of the challenges importers are facing in the shipping business and Nigerian ports. “So, NPA in its wisdom is trying to prevent loss of cargoes by emphasising that barges most be insured. Although, when it was first introduced to ease congestion on the roads, barges significantly reduced the congestion in our ports by reducing the dwell time of cargo.
More cargoes are moved out of the ports to their destination within a shorter time but when it became all comers affairs, there were cases of barges being capsised and containers fell inside lagoon. “Early this year, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) complained that Nigeria had been losing N7.6 trillion annually to congestion in Apapa and Tin- Can ports alone. This should not have happened if we have efficient barge operations and regulations.”
Meanwhile, NPA’s Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko, had said in Lagos that NPA had frozen licensing of the barges until it review the current ones, noting that those that meet its requirements would be licensed.
He said: “We have seen videos of containers falling off barges at berth, we have seen barges sinking also. So, it is not the number of barges that is important, it is the quality of the barges.”
“We would create standards, ensure quality and start increasing the numbers with the same quality. I believe that shortly we would allow those that met our requirements to have licenses but we are not adding new ones.
The operator shall submit N50 million unconditional bank bond in favour of the NPA to qualify for this operation within 10 working days of submitting the acceptance letter.
“At the commencement of any towage operation, port operations or signal station shall be informed so as to factor the movement into the traffic management within the channel to avoid the risk of collision.
The operator shall furnish the traffic department of the port with monthly report on its activities, a copy of which should be referred to the office of the assistant general manager, operations HQs for record purpose.”
However, the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN), in a desperate move, said that the only option available was to hold talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Export and Import Bank (NEXIM) for loans to enable acquire mod- ern ocean-going barges.
According to the President of the association, Dr Bunmi Olumekun, the sector needs legislation that would protect them since barge operation was part of inland waters trade exclusively reserved for the indigenous firms.
He urged the National Assembly to make legislation that would make barge operation exclusively reserve for Nigerians, adding that the Federal Government should commit 20 percent of its railway budget to the development of inland water transportation, particularly barge operations.
Barge operators seek FG’s funding to tap $3bn waterways resources
The Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN) has asked government to provide funds to enable them tap the $3 billion resources in the country’s barge sector. The association also raised the alarm that Asians and other foreigners had started aquiring major waterfronts, especially around Badagry area of Lagos.
