General Secretary of Shippers Association in Lagos State, Mr Jonathan Nicol, has advised the Federal Government to extend the legal stay of cargoes at ports from three to six months.

Nicol told our correspondent recently, that a cargo would be classified as “overtime cargo’’ after three months under the current port regime.

“We are looking at a situation where government would give shippers some relief by extending the deadline on duration of cargoes at the port to six months,”’ he said.

Nicol attributed delays of cargoes at the ports to some factors which included delay in getting the Risk Assessment Report (RAR), cumbersome documentation procedures and existence of many government agencies with different policies.

“At the end of it all, the casualty is the shipper,’’ he said.

Nicol also said that the high tariffs and cumbersome documentation in Nigerian ports had created avenues for smugglers and the diversion of some Nigeria-bound goods to Cotonou port.

He said that it took an average of seven to 12 days to clear goods from Nigerian ports due to delay from the customs release point, documentation by shipping lines and terminal operators.

He suggested that government should come up with a more stable tariff regime that could last at least 10 years.

Nicol said some Nigerian shippers were relocating to ports in Cotonou, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire due to the friendly port policies.

According to him, the customs duties, the Value Added Tax (VAT) and other charges had rendered the port processes in the country expensive.

Nicol, however, said the one-stop shop cargo examination recently adopted by the agencies at the ports had made cargo clearance processes better.

“Government says every agency should go and perform cargo examination at once, but some agencies are still adamant,” he said.

Nicol also said the Cabotage system had not been working because very few Nigerians owned vessels.