Business
Shippers Move To Resist High Port Charges
L-R: Deputy Leader, House of Representatives, Rep Akpan Umoh, Rep. Leo Ogor and Chairman, House Committee On Civil Society and Donor Agencies, Rep. Ini Udoka, at a public hearing on a bill to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of financial/material contribution of donor agencies in Abuja recently.
The President, Shippers Association, Lagos State, Mr Jonathan Nicol, has said its members would resist high charges by shipping companies and terminal operators.
Nicol said this in an interview with The Tide source in Lagos, against the backdrop of controversies between the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), shipping companies and terminal operators on port charges.
He said the shippers’ associations had been calling for a reduction in port and other cargo handling charges for many years.
According to him, it is not a good thing for Nigeria to be labelled as the most expensive in the world— in terms of port operations.
“We do not see why the terminal operators and the shipping companies should be desperate to continue with their way of doing business.
“We believe that we will come together and fight the case, if the need be,’’ Nicol said.
He said the shipping lines and terminal operators should know that without the shippers, without the cargoes, they would not raise invoices against anyone.
Nicol said, “We shippers would make up our mind whether to continue doing business in Nigeria or we look at how we can harmonise all the charges and get on with our business.’’
“Right now, some of the stakeholders said they would withdraw their services because of the high charges.
“It is something that affects all the stakeholders, down the line to the freight forwarders. So, shipping companies should not hold Nigeria to ransom”, the shipper said.
Nicol said the association was seeking ways of cancelling the payment of container deposits for local deliveries, adding that such deposits usually took a long time before shipping companies refund them.
He said that trucks of empty containers were usually lined up in terminals, while the terminal operators would not off-load the containers and kept on charging demurrage.
The shipper said it was mandatory for all terminal operators and shipping companies to take their empty containers, adding that not taking such containers had created a major traffic problem at the ports.
He said that 10 days were too long to refund container deposits, adding that the only exception was Grimaldi (terminal operator) that had been issuing container deposit cheques after seven days.
Kenya made it a clean sweep at the Berlin Marathon with Sabastian Sawe winning the men’s race and Rosemary Wanjiru triumphing in the women’s.
Sawe finished in two hours, two minutes and 16 seconds to make it three wins in his first three marathons.
The 30-year-old, who was victorious at this year’s London Marathon, set a sizzling pace as he left the field behind and ran much of the race surrounded only by his pacesetters.
Japan’s Akasaki Akira came second after a powerful latter half of the race, finishing almost four minutes behind Sawe, while Ethiopia’s Chimdessa Debele followed in third.
“I did my best and I am happy for this performance,” said Sawe.
“I am so happy for this year. I felt well but you cannot change the weather. Next year will be better.”
Sawe had Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 world record of 2:00:35 in his sights when he reached halfway in 1:00:12, but faded towards the end.
In the women’s race, Wanjiru sped away from the lead pack after 25 kilometers before finishing in 2:21:05.
Ethiopia’s Dera Dida followed three seconds behind Wanjiru, with Azmera Gebru, also of Ethiopia, coming third in 2:21:29.
Wanjiru’s time was 12 minutes slower than compatriot Ruth Chepng’etich’s world record of 2:09:56, which she set in Chicago in 2024.