Clearing Agents Decry Rising Demurrage Over Bank Server Outage

Clearing agents at the nation’s seaports have voiced strong concerns over escalating demurrage charges caused by an unexpected bank server outage, severely disrupting port operations. The technical failure has stalled payment transactions essential for cargo clearance, leading to prolonged container storage and increasing costs for importers and exporters.

Industry insiders report that the bank’s server outage began early last week and has yet to be fully resolved. This has caused delays in processing payments for customs duties, port fees, and other charges. As a result, containers remain at the port longer than scheduled, accumulating hefty demurrage fees that threaten to escalate logistics expenses further.

The clearing agents under the aegis of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) also petitioned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, over the persistent system downtime. Since September 1, 2025, they say it has crippled duty payments and inflicted huge financial losses on the trading community.

In a letter signed by its national president, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, APFFLON argued that freight forwarders had been left stranded and importers plagued by losses of naira in demurrage and storage charges.

According to APFFLON, the bank’s payment platform has been inaccessible for days, forcing cargoes to pile up at ports, disrupting supply chains, and frustrating efforts to clear shipments on time.

The group lamented that despite repeated complaints lodged at both branch and regional levels, the affected bank has neither issued an official statement nor provided any contingency plan to cushion the effects of the downtime.

“This unfortunate situation has crippled port operations, delayed cargo clearance processes, and led to cascading financial losses running into billions of naira in demurrage and storage charges. The continued silence and inaction in the face of this nationwide failure of service is deeply concerning and unacceptable.”

APFFLON urged the minister to launch an immediate inquiry into the root cause of the prolonged service collapse, compel the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hold duty collection banks accountable for service reliability, and engage the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on alternative payment channels or temporary waivers for affected importers.

The association further demanded that the bank be held financially liable for the damages incurred, warning that the situation undermines the federal government’s ease of doing business agenda while inflicting avoidable pain on already struggling Nigerian businesses.

“This is a systemic failure that has crippled our industry and cannot be overlooked,” Ogunojemite declared, stressing APFFLON’s readiness to continue supporting government trade facilitation efforts but insisting that accountability must be enforced.