Crisis brews over payment of demurrage at Lagos airport

Trouble is brewing among the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos Chapter and the two aviation handling companies, Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) and the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO).

ANLCA according to information gathered is disagreeing with the managements of the two handling companies over the mandatory payment of demurrage on cargo being slammed on them which accrued as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown.

The association in a statement signed and issued by its secretary, Mr Emmanuel Njoku, described the insistence of the handling companies to pay for the demurrage as a violation of the federal government’s directives on the lockdown of Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states during the period.

In his reaction, the Managing Director of SAHCO, Mr. Basil Agboarumi, declared that the handling companies cannot give waivers to the customs agents, adding that unlike the maritime sector where the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) absorbed some waivers by giving credit notes to terminal operators, this cannot work in the aviation sector where the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have refused to do same for the handling companies.

Agboarumi explained that during the lockdown, SAHCO’s revenue dropped by 90 percent while no fewer than 4,000 direct employments were given out by the two handling companies.

His words: “The aviation sector is bearing the brunt of COVID-19. Throughout the period of the lockdown, and as the airports and airspace was shut down and is still shutdown safe for approved flights, the ground handlers maintained operations throughout in the handling and delivery of essential cargo as released by Nigerian Customs Service in line with the laid down procedures of governance.

“Ground handlers employ over 4,000 Nigerians directly and impact hundreds of thousands directly and indirectly, we have lost over 90 percent of our revenue and have material cash crunch, we are unable to meet our staff salaries going forward, neither are we able to meet other obligations.”

But according to Njoku, when members of the customs agents resumed work on May 4th, 2020, after the lift on the lockdown, the two handling companies insisted that the agents must pay demurrage for shipments affected by the lockdown which he said contradicted the earlier clearance approved by the federal government on essential materials and vaccines as regards COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides, he wondered that since its members at the seaport did not pay for demurrage during the same period queried why they at the airport would be made to pay when the lockdown order came from government but not ANLCA.

While lamenting how his members were yet to resume work after the lift on the lockdown because of the crisis created by the handling companies, he appealed to FAAN to step in just as the NPA did in maritime.

His words: While the airport cargo section work is not going on for a week now after the lockdown have been lifted because the handling companies are requesting freight forwarders to pay demurrage for shipments that were affected by the lockdown.

“Hence, this question:we operate an open market where the same importers who use the seaport are still the same importers who use the airport cargo to pay demurrage within the same lockdown regime”.

The ANLCA scribe urged the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on CORONAVIRUS to interpret the idea behind the lockdown of the airport cargo except for COVID-19 essential materials during the period and wanted the government to prevail on the management’s of the handling companies.

However, the management’s of the two handling companies have insisted that there was no going back on the payment of the demurrage by the airport customs agents.

 

 

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