Overtime cargoes is presently threatening efficiency of seaports across the country. The alarming number of the cargoes are, however, fueling congestion, high cargo dwell time and high turn around time of vessels that call at the nation’s seaports.
The Customs Excise and Management Act (CEMA), classified cargoes as overtime when they have stayed in the port for 28 days without the importer or clearing agent coming up to clear them and take delivery. Under that condition, the law allows Customs to auction such cargoes after 90 days.
LEADERSHIP investigations have revealed that there are over 10,000 overtime cargoes worth billions of naira abandoned by importers with some of these cargoes been in the ports for between seven to 10 years having taken 30 per cent of port space, which invariably congests the various terminals at the ports due to lack of space.
However, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), that is responsible for the evacuation and auctioning of overtime cargoes from the nation’s seaports have abdicated their responsibility, allowing the cargoes takeover over 40 per cent of space meant for import laden containers, thereby, affecting efficiency of the seaports.
But, since evacuation have become a tall order for the Customs, stakeholders have called on the federal government to direct Customs to conduct on the spot auctioning of the cargoes.
A stakeholder, said, “Customs needs to understand that there is a provision for on-the-spot auctioning of these cargoes. This means that they can auction the cargoes within the ports. We need to facilitate that because our terminals are filled with overtime goods. There is no space and this has become a big challenge to us.”
Also, the minister of Transportation, Engr Mu’azu Sambo, during his visit to Port Harcourt, expressed concerns over the issue of overtime cargos in the ports.
Sambo at a stakeholders meeting during a facility tour of the Eastern ports said the overtime containers littering the port are alarming.
He, however, asked the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to find a solution to the problem, saying the affected cargos were occupying strategic spaces with the negative impact on revenue in the ports.
He added that what could be worrisome was that some of the cargos may have expired and therefore with high risk of explosion in the ports.
“Customs and other stakeholders should come up with suggestions on what to do to address the problem,” Sambo said.
However, a clearing agent,
Obinna Okafor, has said that the responsibility of moving overtime cargoes is the outright responsibility of the Nigeria Customs Service.
According to him, overtime cargoes have threatened efficient port operation, resulted in the congestion of port terminals as spaces that are supposed to be used for the stacking of import-laden containers are currently being occupied by overtime cargoes.
He said, “the Customs are in charge of movement of overtime cargoes. Before port concessioning, what NPA does is that they have a warehouse in the port where they put the overtime cargoes, so then you come through the NPA to pick it, but now the people that have the onus to do that is the Customs.
“Customs does not have the machinery to do that, we are talking about moving the cargoes through barges which will be faster due to the poor state of our roads and the cost of moving it by trucks. And Ikorodu Customs warehouse has waterways where the barge can move in through the port, so it makes it easier and cheaper.
“But the machines that load these cargoes on the barge and off the barge are owned by NPA, so if NPA does not work with Customs, it will definitely affect the process. But Customs can direct the shipping companies to bring the cargoes to the government warehouse, but they will still have to rely on NPA facilities to do this.”
Okafor, however, stated that a huge amount of revenue will be accrued to the federal government if overtime cargoes are auctioned to the public.
Okafor stated further, “Perhaps, they don’t know that the amount of revenue lying idle can be used for other things to help the economy to move. And at the same time, the overtime cargoes are supposed to be a way of saving the shippers, and most of the reasons that made this cargoes overtime most time is business issues, and when such things are happening government have a way of allowing genuine trader to still remain in business.
“In freight forwarding, that’s what we call the overtime clearance. They will check if there are genuine reasons why the cargo has remained in the port for so long, so the real importers can come forward through Customs and pay for these goods at a discounted rate and have their cargoes.”
Also speaking, the deputy national president, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Segun Musa, said overtime cargoes used to be the responsibility of terminal operators till the Nigeria Customs hijacked it.
According to him, “before now, Customs has nothing to do with overtime cargo, it is within the prerogative of terminal operators and the warehousing operators, but at a stage, the Customs took over and now the clearing process goes through them and this is to ensure that customs revenue are properly secured.
Musa stated further, “The Customs are responsible for the movement of cargo out of the port because the law allows them to do so. Presently, the procedures have to be followed and the problem now is who is who is responsible for evacuation of overtime cargo out of the port due to the cost of transportation as well as the warehousing.
“We are at the crossroad of who is to handle the evacuation of the overtime cargo out of the port and I think the government needs to look into this because that is the reason we have so many of them lying their,” he said Also speaking, President of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON), Otunba Frank Ogunjemite, said overtime cargoes are the cargoes that have been left in the Port without clearance and such cargoes become overtime after 90 days, which supposed to be automatically taking to government warehouse by Customs.
“For instance, if it is in Lagos, all these consignments have to be taking to Ikorodu.
“Accumulation of overtime cargoes can actually lead to congestion and they are a lot of factors that make the consignments resulted into overtime cargoes as well. One might be expecting loan somewhere to clear the goods. Maybe the loan didn’t materialised, which might lead people to leave their consignments at the Port.
“Another thing is that if there is documentation issues on any consignment, it make take over three months and it would now become overtime cargoes. Again, government policy also led to overtime cargoes. Assuming there is a cargo, which you expect to be a zero duty, by the time you get to the port, they now levy you, and by the time you start the process, it can lead to overtime cargo because it stayed beyond the approved time by Customs and when a consignment stays beyond that time, it becomes overtime cargo,” he said.
He, however, disclosed that no importer or businessman would deliberately leave his or her cargo or consignment in the port,” he said.
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