… pleads with freight forwarders to stay action on planned strike

The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) on Tuesday held a meeting with the aggrieved freight forwarders following the agents threat to down tools due the hike in terminal charges by the operators.

The terminal operators in the nation’s seaports had proposed a 600 per cent increase in terminal charges which the agents found unreasonably high.

To find solution to the lingering crisis, the NSC it was gathered held a meeting with freight forwarders under the aegis of Association of Concerned Freight Forwarders And Transporters (ACFF&T) led by its Vice President, Ndubuisi Uzoegbo.

The meeting held at the NSC headquarters saw officials of the Council prevailing on the aggrieved agents to shelve the planned strike.

Recall that the terminal operators had commenced increased of the various charges from Monday 16, October, 2023 which is about 600 per cent hike from the previous amount.

It was gathered that the Council team had pleaded with the aggrieved freight forwarders to shelve the planned strike to next week when the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of NSC, Emmanuel Jime, and Director of Regulatory Services, Ifeoma Ezedinma, will be around.

Speaking on the issue, a member of ACFF&T, Jonny Ubaka, confirmed that the meeting held and that they were asked to hold on until the return of the Executive Secretary and Director, Regulatory Service. 

He also disclosed that another meeting is scheduled for next week.

The freight forwarders who were guest at Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) Roundtable in Lagos, had said that storage charges which used to be N15,120 after 14 days will now be over N90,000 when the new charge come into effect.

Uzeogbo also explained that the planned action if allowed to be implemented will result in spiral inflation resulting in the tripling of cost of imported goods or outright abandonment of such imports since the importers cannot afford the new charges. 

The planned increase in the handling charges, demurrage, rent collection and storage charges by shipping companies and terminal has been described as an action that will further drive inflation in the country.

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