By Steve Agbota
A French shipping company, CMA CGM has announced a new Peak Season Surcharge (PSS) of $400 per container effective from August 5, 2024 on cargo originating from the United States and Canada destined for Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Angola, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Congo, DRC, Namibia and Equatorial Guinea.
It was reported the new surcharge is coming barely two months after that the shipping line imposed the sum of $900 per TEU (twenty equivalent unit) of containers as Peak Season Surcharge on cargoes coming through it from China to Nigeria.
The French shipping company also announced the implementation of a separate surcharge of €400 per container on cargo originating from North Europe (including the Baltic and Scandinavia), £300 per container from the United Kingdom and $400 per container from West Mediterranean, East Mediterranean, Adriatic, Morocco, North Africa, and the Black Sea, and destined for Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Angola, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Congo, DRC, Namibia, and Equatorial Guinea. This surcharge, which comes into effect on August 1, 2024 (loading date), is applicable to dry and reefer cargo.
The container carrier said the surcharge would be applied until further notice.
Stakeholders who spoke on the fresh surcharge with Daily SUN said it would have negative effect on cargo clearance and prices of goods in the market.
They charged Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to intervene by protecting Nigerian shippers from the shipping companies arbitrary charges.
Reacting to the development, the CEO/MD Virtues Marine and Freight Services Ltd, Dr. Eugene Nweke, said the implication is that cost of doing business in the Nigerian ports will be higher because overhead cost will be higher.
He said if ocean freight is now increased by $400, it will affect the whole overhead cost of carrying cargo out of port and what will be sold at the market.
He pointed out that the freight will affect the cost of production line, saying that the price effect will be higher than expected, saying $400 per container is high when converted it into Naira.
He said that why an agency needs to protect the interest of shippers in Nigeria and intervene, adding that Shippers’ Council needs to call the shipping lines into order.
“It is not only CMA CGM and others shipping companies are collecting the money in a subtle manner without even telling you. They will integrate it into corporate of freight. Some of these shipping lines will not say anything, they will only incorporate that into corporate of freight.
Meanwhile, an economist and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf said there is need for NSC to step into it because some of these surcharges are supposed to be regulated.
He warned that charges on businesses cannot be arbitrary, adding that the fresh surcharge needs to checked whether it has been cleared by shippers council.
It is the shippers’ council is in the better position to know if there is any justification for this kind of surcharge because it will contribute to the problem of the nation’s economy.