Gridlock: Shippers propose $1000 fine for errant shipping lines

Worried by the worsening gridlocks on seaport access and adjoining roads and street, the Shippers’ Association of Lagos State (SALS) has proposed stringent punitive measures including a $1,000 fine per empty container per day on errant shipping lines over their deliberate policy of storing their empty containers on Nigerian roads.

Recall that the Nigerian Ports Authority had recently slammed a ten-day suspension of the services of four multinational shipping companies comprising Maerskline, Cosco Shipping, APS and Lansal over their failure to provide holding bays as agreed by stakeholders in November of last year.

President of the Association, Rev. Jonathan Nicol, who spoke to journalists in Lagos, observed that even if the government tarred all the roads leading to the seaports, the gridlock would persist due to the deliberate policy of these shipping companies to leave their empty containers in Nigeria, which is cheaper and more convenient for them.

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“Until the Federal Government through the NPA and other regulatory agencies introduce stiff sanctions not limited to the imposition of $1,000 per container per day to discourage them from leaving their containers here, they will continue to take undue advantage of the obvious lapses in the system in this country,” the SALS chairman stated.

He also disclosed that the practice of causing artificial gridlock in the country by these shipping lines is a deliberate ploy to ensure that Nigerian shippers (importers and exporters) forfeit their container deposits, arguing that with the volume of traffic all over the places, it is impossible to deliver the container on schedule to qualify for the refund of the container deposits.