ABUJA: The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has announced strategic measures for a new port order that will reduce the cost of doing business and achieve overall efficiency at the Nigerian ports.
The Council has designed a template and standard tariff system that will ensure 30 to 40 per cent reduction in tariff and is also establishing a new platform for every stakeholder to integrate.
Already, the Council is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to ensure that every payment is reflected in the platform.
Executive Secretary of the Council, Barr Hassan Bello who disclosed the measure weekend explained that the new port order, designed by the Council as part of its statutory roles as the Ports Regulator will involve every service provider at the port system.
The platform, according to him, would be a command and control centre that will create a “nexus between all existing systems in the industry”.
Describing this as a means of integration, he said the idea is to make it easier for all stakeholders to benefit from what the Council was doing.
He explained that the new measure will benefit all stakeholders, including customs brokers, agencies involved in inspection, shipping companies, real infrastructure operators within the ports, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), maritime administrators, customs service, terminal operators, road haulers, exporters and transporters.
The idea of harmonising the system, he explained, was to create transparency so that the importer could trade with certainty as to how much to pay and how long to take delivery of the goods.
Bello also noted that the new port order was also designed to “eliminate all the wastages in the system so that the cost of doing business is reduced”.
Part of the arrangement is that the owner of a cargo should know when his cargo arrives so that he can prepare well in advance to make arrangements to clear his goods in good time.
According to him, the new order would require that the cargo be scanned before it is stacked.
In effect, he explained that as “the ship is discharging, the cargo is also being scanned, and the image is used by the Customs Service to commence clearing process in terms of segregating the cargo for whatever line of inspection according to customs’ procedures introduced for security measures.”
Furthermore, Bello disclosed that the idea to scan containers as they are being discharged is in line with the policy of the International Maritime Authority (IMO), which Nigeria is party.
He added that it is a practice that is in place all over the world, adding that pre-scanning of containers or any consignment has a lot of benefits for all stakeholders in the system.
According to him, the objective behind the new port order was to establish a framework where the competitiveness of the industry would be enhanced beyond those of the neighbouring ports, such as Cotonou, Ghana, Cameroun, among others.
He also said it was aimed at improving safety, security, integration of an intelligent processing of data from all stakeholders and other information.
“The measure will also harmonise and simplify administrative and clearance procedures by the establishment of business networks and supports,” he explained.
He said the Council as a Ports Economic Regulator is concerned about improving the efficiency of shipping services in Nigeria, adding that the maritime electronic super-highway that will evolve from the platform will be accessible for only users who collaborate with the NSC at this point in time.
He noted that already, every operator or agency in the ports has embraced automation, a measure he said was part of the benefits of ports regulation.
