Customs Partner NPA on Moving Overtime Cargoes from Apapa Port

By ZION Olalekan

The Apapa Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has said that it is currently in talks with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on deciding the best and cheapest way to move overtime cargoes out of Apapa Port in order to avoid port congestion.

Cargoes are classified as overtime when they have stayed in the port for twenty eight days without the importer or clearing agent coming up to clear them.

In a chat with nigeriamaritime360.com, spokesperson of the Apapa Customs Command, Nkiruka Nwalla confirmed that the Customs Area Controller, Compt Abubakar Bashir is holding meetings with the Apapa Port Manager of Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) Aisha Ali Ibrahim and the port concessionaire, APMT terminal on modalities to move the containers.

According to her, the agency is troubled by the high cost of transportation of goods from Apapa port to the government warehouse in Ikorodu designed for overtime containers.

Nwala said both agencies are holding consultations to workout modalities on who should bear the cost of transportation.

While lamenting the increase in the cost of transportation of containers from Apapa port, Nwala said it costs N550,000 to move a single container from Apapa to Jibowu, a suburb.

“To pick a container from Apapa port to Jibowu is N550,000, so for now, the modalities to get the containers out is being worked out. NPA, APMT, Customs area working it out.

“Using barges is not also cheap, some are using train and sometimes you will see that the train brakes down, it is a whole lot of challenges but talks are ongoing. Even for barges, where and where are the clear routes for barges to sail through?

“The comptroller has met with APMT, Customs and NPA port manager, the question is who will foot the bill, the containers have accumulated, even there are some that have been here before APMT was concessioned.

“We are gathering the figure on the number of overtime containers” ,she told our correspondent.

Nwala said that compiling the list of overtime cargoes is a complicated issue, saying that there are some clearing agents with genuine cases who finished all necessary clearance but due to the bad road network, they couldn’t pick their containers.

“We have had a meeting with NPA. Overtime cargo means after twenty eight days, but for the past one year, you can finish clearing your cargo from the port and for a whole month you will not get a truck to go in and move it out”.

Comptroller Bashir had at a recent stakeholders meeting in Apapa announced that over 1000 Pre-Assessment Reports (PAAR) are not used by importers.

On this, the Apapa PRO said “We are still working on the unused PAAR, it is a system based work, we are going to trace them and find out why. We in customs will check out records and identify those unutilized PAAR”.