Follow Us on Google
From Steve Agbota
The Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) has called on the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to prevail on the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) to suspend a planned tariff adjustment.
In a statement issued yesterday by the President of APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, he said: “We hereby write to bring to your notice the plan by the management of the WACT to review its tariff by April 1, 2025. The planned tariff review will affect both the Terminal Handling Charges (THC) and the Storage Charges.
“The Terminal intends to adjust its Handling Charges by 8 per cent while that of the Storage Charges will be adjusted by 100 per cent. WACT also claimed that the upward review of its tariff was in line with the relevant regulatory approval.
“In view of the above, we write to express our displeasure over this development, and we unequivocally express our opposition to this planned hike, which will, in turn, add to the cost of doing business at the port,” he said.
According to him, APFFLON is aware of the meeting the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council’s office, Pius Ukeyima Akutah, had with stakeholders in Lagos last month where he appealed to all parties to stay action on any planned increment in service charges, promising to look at the request holistically and come up with a position that would be acceptable to all concerned.
However, he lamented that the management of WACT could not wait for the outcome in this regard, only to rush to announce a review.
“Again, we recalled that during a stakeholder engagement on the National Single Window held in Lagos recently, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, announced his plans to reduce port costs by at least 25 per cent and here we are having a terminal thinking of increasing its tariff in outright disregard to the Minister’s plans.
Other News
“While we are not against increment by any terminal operator, we are only saying that any increment at this point will amount to economic sabotage because the economy is bleeding and its harsh effects are being felt by the greater number of Nigerians. The planned upward review of the tariff at this time is ill-timed and, therefore, unacceptable to us.
“We insist that whatever review they need to do should be suspended until further notice and until we can see that there’s a need to increase because most of their equipment is obsolete and outdated, and the economy is too fragile at the moment to accommodate any tariff adjustment,” he said.
He said APFFLON, as an association, believes that what stakeholders and operators should be talking about now is how to facilitate trade, enhance ease of doing business, and deploy cost-cutting measures to reposition the nation’s port system, not tariff adjustment.
“We, therefore, urge you to use your good office to prevail on the management of WACT to suspend the planned tariff adjustment and come for a roundtable discussion on the best time to effect this tariff adjustment as any move in that direction now will not only hurt the economy but will aggravate the congestion at the Lagos ports, thereby impoverishing Nigerians the more.
“We demand that all efforts should be made to call the management of WACT and, indeed, any other service provider in the port environment who is contemplating something like this to order and be talked into aligning with the vision of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council under your leadership to work out cost-saving measures to make our ports user-friendly and competitive.
“The time to save our economy from further damage is now, and we want you to be part of the efforts to make our ports globally competitive by rising to the occasion and stopping any move that will further damage our economy and impoverish the already battered Nigerians.
“We are confident that you will see the need to stop this review, which is bound to hurt our economy and further add to the cost of doing business and save the trading community of the trauma and shock they will have to suffer as a result of this development,” he appealed.
