Customs brokers and importers are facing redundancy and low patronage over increase in the cost of clearing goods at the ports.
It was gathered that series of tariffs and surcharges by liners, terminal operators and service providers had discouraged people from importing goods as most of them cannot afford to bring in as many containers as before while others have outrightly stopped importation business.
Meanwhile, a port performance report released at a recent quarterly meeting of the Nigerian Port Consultative Council (NPCC), revealed that vessels that called at the Nigerian ports dropped by 4.5 per cent to 3,778 in 2023 from 3,957 vessels in the privious year.
According to NPCC, container traffic to the ports has declined by 6.85 per cent to 1.57 million Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) from the 1.68 million TEUs handled in the previous year.
It said: “Container traffic during the period under review stood at 1,566,162 TEUs, showing a decrease of 6.8 per cent from 1,681,328 TEUs handled in 2022.
Further analysis of container traffic revealed that import container traffic accounted for 55.85 per cent with 874,683 TEUs, while export container traffic stood at 684,586 TEUs, representing 43.71 per cent of total container traffic.”
Worried by the low imports, the Managing Director of Sceptre Consult Limited, Jayeola Ogamode, said an average importer using the Nigerian ports, paid more than six different exorbitant charges apart from customs duties.
He explained that before an importer could exit his goods from the ports, he must pay some money to government agencies, stressing that National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) would collect N500,000 for certification; Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON)’s certification, N500,000; 45 per cent (up 30 per cent) terminal operators and shipping companies service fees/charges; National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA)/ other Environmental Agencies charges, N200,000.
Others are N45,000 per day demurrage on 20- footer container; N68,500 per day demurrage on 40- footer container; N20 million Customs duty on 20- footer container and N26 million Customs duty on 40- footer container.
In addition to these charges, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) recently increased its tariff by 15 per cent. Recall that Customs recently suspended the four per cent Free on Board (FOB) charge on imports due to the public outcry of freight forwarders and importers.
However, it was gathered that the FOB charge would eventually be reinstated later after sufficient consultations and sensitisation are carried out by the NCS as experts raised the alarm that the implementation of the four per cent FOB levy on imports would aggravate inflation in the country.
On February 5, customs announced the introduction of the FOB levy on imports as its Spokesman, Abdullahi Maiwada said that the introduction of the levy was in line with the provisions of Section 18 (1) of NCSA 2023, the NCS is implementing a 4 per cent charge on the Free On-Board (FOB) value of imports.
However, a former Sole Administrator of ANLCA, Alhaji Mukaila Abdullaziz, said that no agent was breaking even except the dare devil ones, who are ready to do anything to break even.
He noted: “But for some of us who are old hands on the job and have names to protect; we are not breaking even because we are not ready to compromise the system.
That is why most of us have diversified into other businesses to stay afloat. The freight for – warding industry is dead.
“Most of the old hands in the freight forwarding business have diversified into hospitality business as they are owners of choice hotels spread across Lagos and other commercial cities in Nigeria.”
