Cabotage: Mariners want NIMASA to prepare indigenous operators for takeover

The Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) has described the recent move by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) planned withdrawal of waivers to foreign vessels owners to lift the Nigerian petroleum products and other sundry activities on the nation’s waters as futuristic.

The body of the mariners added that Nigerian indigenous ship owners could not wait to take advantage of the policy.

The President of the Association, Capt. Tajudeen Alao said this in a chat with newsmen adding that such move suggested that the apex maritime agency is thinking ahead.

Alao contended that having given the foreign vessel owners a five year withdrawal notice, NIMASA should not wait till the five years to start putting the necessary structures in place for the eventual takeover of jobs hitherto done by foreign vessel owners by indigenous ship owners by drawing up a plan to achieve that.

He alleged that Nigerian ship owners didn’t really understand the oil and gas industry that they were servicing as they only provided services saying that 40% of the industry was logistics on oil exploration and that certain percentage was the marine side which he said they didn’t understand.

“Now, when it comes to export of crude oil, you give them one leg charter, you carry crude from here to US, what are you going to bring back? Do we have insurance in place that caters for loss in earnings? So, there are certain things you need to put in place before you eventually get there and are you guaranteeing that the present Management of NIMASA are going to be there that time? The people that will come in; are they people who understand the system or are they people who will come in and start learning again and there will be policy summersault?

“The move is well timed, from 2003 up till today; the Cabotage is not fully on ground. What is the discipline of the practitioners? Did the companies sign DOC (Document of Compliance)? Those who have DOC, do they have practical structures on ground or is it that they just bought the paper to say that they have a good establishment? Shipping has gone beyond that, you must have proper structure on ground.

“Giving five years is not all that there is, there must be deliberate steps to be taken, and there must be proper understanding of the industry. Most of the people who run the tankers were marketers because freight is what shipping service is all about not selling. You are talking of international shipping, you don’t make profit overnight, you are providing services, and your income is based on the volume of cargo you carry. In the past, they had money to buy ship and they went and bought rust bucket, instead of buying one good ship, they went and bought five. So, they must understand the intricacies of shipping. The only person who can enforce that is the Shipping Department of NIMASA but they too are not structured to do that. They only collect 2%”, he said.

On disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), Alao contended that the moment the money is ready for disbursement, many people would come for the money as according to him, “the politicians will take over, the man in power will want to take some for his friends as well and for himself.

“So, you need to look at those people who have been in that business for long, those who have contributed should benefit. There must be a structure to look at what they do, even the banks are not sincere, the people saddled with risk management, they are only thinking of their pocket. But if the money is controlled by a committee that will be involved, if people doing fishing business didn’t contribute to the fund, why must you give them? So, there must be proper structure for a serious nation and that is our stand in Master Mariner”.