Strike: N244bn seaport demurrage crisis looms ―Investigation

The plan by truckers and clearing agents to embark on strike from Monday at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) may cost importers and exporters N668million daily on demurrage payment and a whopping N244bn annually, findings have revealed.

It would be recalled that a coalition of truck owners and clearing agents operating at the Lagos Ports Complex (LPC) under the aegis of the Amalgamation of Trucking Associations With Other Stakeholders In Maritime Industry (ATAOSMI) had issued a strike action scheduled to commence on Monday over the deplorable states of the Tin Can/Apapa ports access roads which they claimed have been responsible for the destruction of trucks, goods and even loss of lives.

According to an industry Report by leading financial audit firm, Akintola Williams Deloitte titled: Public Private Partnership (PPP) as an anchor for diversifying the Nigeria economy: A Case Study of Lagos Container Terminals Concession; Nigerian importers and exporters now save about $800 million (N244 billion) annually, which, hitherto, was paid to shipping companies as congestion surcharge.

The Document further explained that the demurrage payment of about N244bn is saved by importers due to increased ship traffic and throughput, eradication of ship waiting time at the container terminals, reduction of Vessel turnaround time from five days to 41 hours, and reduction of dwell time for cargoes from over 30 days to just 14 days.

However, In the event of a seaport strike at the Lagos Port Complex, cargoes are doomed to get trapped inside the ports, leading o congestion and delay of vessels turnaround time, and ultimately jerking up payment of demurrages by importers and exporters, cargo clearing expert explained to Nigerian Tribune over the weekend.

In the words of Bolaji Olasunkanmi, a cargo clearance expert, “If agents make do with their threat and down tool, importers and exporters will pay huge demurrage payments.

“They (Importers and exporters) will be on the receiving end if agents and truckers strike because their cargoes will get trapped. And if cargoes get trapped in the ports as a result of strike, other vessels waiting to discharge won’t be able to do that since there wont be space to accommodate newer cargoes inside the ports. And once newer vessels cannot discharge, demurrages begin to mount.

“And who pays the demurrages? It is the importers and the exporters because they are the owners of the cargoes trapped inside the ports. Demurrages is not the business of agents or truckers, it is the responsibility of the cargo owners.

“If newer vessels cannot discharge the cargoes they are carrying within the normal period, then the owners of those cargoes will have to part with congestion surcharges before they will be offloaded. Congestion surcharges is the same thing as demurrages..

“And what does that mean financially, it means importers and exporters will pay N668, 493, 150 every day their cargoes remain trapped inside the port. That’s if we use the Akintola Williams report, even though I strongly believe it could be more than that.

“All this is premised on the fact that truckers and agents go on with their strike tomorrow. The port is not somewhere some people should just think of shutting down, because if that happens, port users will suffer.”