Stakeholders rap Customs for movement of overtime cargo to bonded terminals …Not our duty to take such decisions - Customs

Tayo Oladipupo |

Bonded terminal operators and clearing agents have advocated for overtime cargoes to be diverted to bonded terminals to avoid undue congestions at the sea port terminals.

The call was made at the Apapa customs stakeholders meeting held at rhe command headquarters in Lagos, Tuesday.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the command, Comptroller Abubakar Bashir had organised the meeting with stakeholders barely after two weeks of resumption at the command as the new controller to relate with them on their challenges and how to solve them.

Haruna Omolajomo, the Secretary of the Association of Bonded Terminal Operators of Nigeria, lamented that the bonded terminals under the Apapa command now operate below 5%.

He however solicited the assistance of the Controller to help prevail on terminal operators to stem containers to the bonded terminals adding that the officers deployed to the bonded warehouses had nothing to do.

Omolajomo said, “We want to seek your indulgence, if you can make it possible that we can have export seat in these bonded terminals, I know some of them have started, I want a swift action whereby you can have export seat in all the bonded terminals and you can post one export officer there because most of them are ready to do export.

“In the aspect of empty, if you look at this environment now, you will discover that a lot of trucks litter the roads but if you can help to talk to other stakeholders so that they can use the bonded terminals as holding bays because you find out that most of the trucks you find outside there now will be a thing of the past.

“The other one is the issue of stemming of vessels, I know the CAC may not have the full authority to do that but you can help us to talk with other people.

“We have cargoes that are meant to be for twenty-eight days as dwell time in the seaport, we are pleading that after these twenty-eight days, they should be taken to the bonded terminals because the bonded terminals are ready to comply.

“We are even ready to cut down our terminal charges so that the agents”, he said.

Also speaking, the Western Zonal Coordinator of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), John Offorbike advised that cargo dwelling time at the port should not be more than it supposed to be.

He said of the cargoes stayed for too long at the terminals, it is only the terminal operators and shipping lines that will benefit while the masses bear the burden of the additional charges.

He said, “At the end of the day, the cargo will stay here, the importer will pay heavily after paying the normal statutory duty or charge, the terminal operator will increase, the shipping company will increase and the end users, Nigerians will bear the brunt.

“This is customs port, normally, the port here is a transit place, the cargo comes here, you take it to off dock where they can be easily turned around to see that ships berth.

“We have bonded terminals under Apapa command and looking at the roads now, it is hell coming to Apapa, I want to appreciate the officers, and they don’t have any option than to come to Apapa, it is difficult to come here.

“I want you to look at how it is going to be possible to make sure most of the bonded terminals under Apapa command are filled with containers. There is politics going on, please Mr. Controller, you have to look at that,” he said.

Offorbike alleged that most of the cargoes that were meant for Apapa were being diverted to some other bonded terminals that were not under Apapa while bonded terminals under Apapa command were lying fallow without cargo even as overtime cargoes were littered in the port.

His words, “We want you to use your good office to meet NPA to transfer containers to the place it supposed to be. It is twenty-eight days dwell time in the port, the terminal operators know that by law, if containers stay for twenty-eight days in the port, the law says they should meet certain officer, that is the APM, that the cargo should be destined to a designated area called bonded terminal where the people are going to pay less and if its stay for more than ninety days, it becomes government property.

“Most of the cargoes in this port have over stayed that there is no space to bring in more cargoes. Try to do something Mr. Controller so that cargoes should be transferred to the designated areas so that we can pay less and move our cargoes”.

In his response, Bashir who stated that the Service was handicapped in taking such decision added that there was nothing wrong in goods going to bonded terminals as far as customs operation was concerned adding that the service would appreciate if such operation would go unhindered because of the current challenges at the port.

The CAC said, “So, customs is actually handicapped on that. I agree with you there are lots of politics in movement of cargo but I think with the calibre of personalities here, you are the ones to make such move to see that these bonded terminals are operational. It has nothing to do with customs.

“We are dealing with the issue of overtime cargo, by this week; we are going to conclude on all overtime goods.

“Let me crave your indulgence to see how you effectively check, those of you the Chairman of the Association of Bonded Terminals, tell all your members to list all your overtime cargoes and send to my office immediately, then let us see how we can harness the information we have within and outside the port and come into a final conclusion on those cargoes,” he said.