Uzoegbo: Shipping Companies, Terminal Operators Are Economic Saboteurs
BY Mcanthony Onuoha
The Apapa Chairman of Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Fwdr. Ndubuisi Uzoegbo, has lashed out at shipping companies and terminal Operators describing them as a bunch of callous money mongers and mindless economic saboteurs.
In an exclusive interview with the Prestige Blended Magazine in his Apapa office recently, Uzoegbo lamented the level of insensitivity that these major Maritime stakeholders have continually exhibited in their services to Freight Forwarders and importers, without recourse to its debilitating effect on the national economy and on the pshycology and livelihoods of Clearing agents.
In his words,”Shipping Companies and terminal operators impose serious problems not only on Freight Forwarders but also on the country as a whole. The two stakeholders you mentioned are evil pedlars. Terminal operators are slightly better if compared with shipping companies. Shipping Companies are evil themselves, they are destroying Nigerian economy and also play with our health as well as insult our collective sensibilities, but Nigerians will realize the level of damage they are doing to the economy in no distant time,but before then, it would have gotten to an irredeemable extent.”
Continuing, the Apapa Chairman of NAGAFF pointed out that it remained an impossible feat for an agent to take delivery of a consignment without incurring huge demurrage. ” No matter how you try as a clearing agent, there is no how you can avoid shipping Company demurrage, it is impossible, it is a fact that you must be indebted to the shipping company. After exiting your container from the terminal and as long as the container remains on the truck, you are being billed; they have nothing to lose, these people are milking us, they are benefactors of the bad roads and wouldn’t want them repaired. The same people are the cause of the gridlocks we have been witnessing in Apapa axis; it has extended to Amuwo Odofin,Ilasa and to the National Stadium.When it takes a truck 14 days to drop an empty container, these people have been our major tormentors; each time they see the gridlock easing up, they bribe those manning the traffic to continue creating bottleneck because they are the beneficiaries, whether they work or not, they are making their money.”
” Another sad aspect is that if you are owing them a Million Naira and you have new consignments with them, let’s say 5 or 6 or more, they will hold down the consignments and demurrage will be accumulating on them until you pay the outstanding One Million Naira; maybe at that point in time the money is not available as you can only afford to pay for the ones at hand to enable you take delivery of the consignments, at the end of the day, the demurrage on the ones they hold down would have accumulated additional millions of Naira, and once they discover that money has accrued from the delay, they now ask you to come up with half of the One Million Naira you owe them and a large percentage of the new demurrage and take your consignment while you come back and pay the balance because you are still indebted to them. In that process the Terminal Operators would be calculating their handling charges,so while Shipping Companies are making money for themselves, they are also making money for terminal operators. This is what they do to us here”.
” You can see that they connive to impoverish us, they create bottleneck here and there to their advantage at the end of the day, you find out that one Million Naira has attracted over 10 Million Naira. Are we talking of the invoice aspect, once you pay, it takes you two days to be issued invoice, while you are waiting for your invoice, they are billing you. For example, shipping company like One Ocean Network is a big problem, they are new here but their level of high-handedness will in no distant time make them the richest shipping company in Nigeria, l am talking of One Ocean Network located at Warehouse Road Apapa, they have become a very big problem to us, without your consent they move your containers to any bonded terminal of their choice and make you pay for every expenses incurred in the process. Not all that, to even move your consignment to the very terminal they choose takes 4-5 months; l have evidences. If you ask them they would tell you they are not charging you demurrage while as they are actually doing that, they might have waived 21days for you, what of the 4-5 months demurrage the delay incurred. These issues have to be addressed and urgently too. Those at the helm of affairs should do something to curtail these excesses, these people should be called to order”.
Continuing, the Apapa Chapter Chairman of NAGAFF vehimently accused shipping companies and terminal operators of insensitivity,” the sad thing is that they don’t even care about the importer and the agent; whatever threat issued to them is never taken seriously, they even tell you that Abuja is the highest place you can go and that nothing will happen. They see us as mere noice makers because they have the backings of those up there. They work hand in hand with them to destroy Nigeria.l can mention names, one of the staff of One Ocean Network has been exhibiting a high level of callousness and has been very unpatriotic as he keeps collaborating with his masters to reap fellow Nigerians off, but one day, he will realize what damage he is doing to his image”.
Uzoegbo urged the Minister of Transport to constitute a committee to look into the activities of these companies so as to cut down on their excesses. ” The Minister should find a way to address these issues, and l tell you that if he fails to intervene,we shall march down to Abuja to meet him ourselves,we shall occupy his office premises until he answers us. We shall cry to him until he comes to our aid. Freight Forwarders are dying, go round Apapa,you will find out that most office spaces are abandoned, occupants can no longer pay their mortgage and utility bills due to the hardship imposed on them by shipping companies and terminal operators, and the bad states of Ports roads. Many Freight Forwarders are now beggars as they no longer have work to do. This is exactly what we are going through in this industry.”
Recall that very recently, a serious accusation was levelled against Freight Forwarders by A.P Moller Terminal Country Manager, that agents are the major cause of Ports congestion as they do not care to clear their consignments in good time. And the allegation attracted a seven day ultimatum from NAGAFF, asking APMT to withdraw the statement or face industrial actions.
When asked of his take on the accusation, Uzoegbo said,” the organization has lost our respect; they are senseless for saying that. APMT is reaping us off, l can assure you that no importer or agent would like to waste his money on demurrage, not even a stupid person. Everything about APMT is fraud. They are liars, they are not a straight forward Organization if they can level such allegation against Freight Forwarders; it means they are mischievous. The terminal lacks equipment, that is why they are no longer efficient. Their manpower is below average, I score them 10/100 when it comes to equipment and manpower. They are the major culprit causing the congestion and gridlocks even as they milk importers by using delay tactics and flimsy excuses. The gridlocks we keep witnessing on ports roads are man-made,if you doubt me let a freight forwarder be appointed Transport Minister today, then watch if these gridlocks and all the unnecessary challenges facing us presently will continue. The Federal Government should start appointing Freight Forwarders to manage the ports,they are professionals and they know where the challenges are,they can tackle these problems tactically. Someone that has no ideas of Ports operations can not manage it efficiently,” Uzoegbo concluded.
