Why activities are poor at Delta ports – Shippers’ Council

Cargo owners “determining where their cargoes should go” has been identified as one of the factors responsible for the poor activities at Delta ports.

Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Pius Akutah, disclosed this while responding to questions from stakeholders at the launch of an online portal for the registration of Regulated Port Service Providers and Users, organised by the Council in Effurun, Uvwie council area of Delta state, Thursday.

Akutah who was represented by the Deputy Director, Stakeholders Services, Celestine Akujobi, stated that the NSC, together with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have been “carrying out advocacy for the revitalization” of Delta ports and especially, for the use of Nigeria’s eastern ports.

He further pointed out that availability of “return cargo” is one way to attract shipping lines to the ports, adding that governments, the Chambers of Commerce and other stakeholders need to put all hands on deck for the ports to thrive.

Also speaking on foreigners rendering freight forwarding services in Nigeria, against standard practice, he said, “the Shippers’ Council is not happy with that too. Actually, for freight forwarding, many of them (foreigners), like some of the Shipping companies here in Nigeria, open up departments that carryout those services on behalf of them. And actually it’s supposed to be for that particular company and not for them to freely go out and be soliciting for work like other Nigerians. We are against that and we equally advise our sister agencies in that regard”.

Asked why there is no uniform rate for service providers, he explained that it is to “encourage competition,” adding that the NSC does not just “fix rate but come up with a sealing which service providers cannot go above”.

Earlier, Akujobi reeled out the benefits of the registration to include compliance with Port Economic Regulation 2015, receiving circulars and publications from the council; information services on trade contract, shipping position, inland container depots, vessel information and cargo location at the ports, alternative routes for shipments, commodity and customer sourcing; advisory services; advocacy; education and enlightenment among others.

He warned that failure to register will incur non-participation at NSC organised industry meetings, cancellation of registration certificate/license to operate at Nigerian Ports; blacklisting of defaulters and so on.

Stakeholders who attended the programme were representatives from the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), terminal operators at the Warri Port, as well as other shipping service providers and users.