The Nigerian Shippers’
Council (NSC) has solicited stakeholders’ support toward effective ports regulation.
The council made the appeal in Lagos at a stakeholders’ meeting to deliberate on the role of the NSC as an interim regulator of the Nigerian ports.
Executive Secretary of the NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, said that the council’s role in port regulation would not only benefit the nation, but would ensure equity and fairness to all.
“The regulation is for the benefit of the nation’s economy and there must be a balance. We have to ensure that as investors gain, so should users of the service get value,” Bello said.
In a paper on : “Challenges and Prospects of Port Terminal Operations,” Mrs Vicky Haastrup, Chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association, advised NSC to proactively moderate port activities.
She identified multiple taxes imposed by different government agencies at the ports as a major disincentive to the terminal operators.
Haastrup also said that the concession of the ports had impacted positively on the duration of vessels at the various ports.
She said “Time is cost in port operations and rather that talk about tariffs always, the gain of quick service delivery can be reviewed to see the gains.”
Haastrup urged the NSC to deal with the issues of sea pirates and the location of tank farms close to the various ports located at Apapa, Lagos.
Also speaking, Mr Leke Oyewole, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Maritime Matters, described as dangerous the closeness of petroleum products tank farms to the ports.
Oyewole suggested the relocation of the tank farms around Ore, Ondo State.
He also promised to look into the issue of indiscriminate imposition of taxes by some of the organisations working at the ports.