The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has threatened to stop the renewal of licences of shipping companies that do not have functional truck holding bays.
NPA has set a January 2022 deadline for shipping companies to comply with its policy on empty containers.
Clearing agents and truckers have frowned at the pains they bear on demurrage due to the lack of container holding bays by the shipping firms.
The Principal Manager in charge of Operations, NPA, Mrs Stella Oladiran, who represented the General Manager, Operations, dropped the hint at a meeting convened by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRRFN) to avert strike action in Lagos on Friday.
Mrs Oladiran noted that NPA had refused to renew license of some shipping companies for failure to provide empty container holding bays.
She said it was now mandatory for shipping firms to show evidence of having a functional empty container holding bay before they would get their licences renewed.
The Coordinator, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) 100 Percent Compliance Team, Ibrahim Tanko, said shipping companies had resorted to using trucks as holding bays, while also charging demurrage on the containers.
The Chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, said containers were often laden on trucks for months while looking for space to drop them.
“Returning an MSC empty container costs N85,000 which they will collect from you at the holding bay before they will receive the empty container. This is unreceipted money,” he noted.
