Ports: CRFFN Moves to Appease Aggrieved Freight Forwarders over POFs Collections
REGISTRAR
By Francis Ugwoke
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRRFN) is making frantic efforts at pacifying aggrieved members who have mounted strong opposition against the collection of Ports Operating Fees (POFs) in the ports.
A source close to the Council told SHIPPING DAY that the regulatory agency arrived at this decision in view of the continued opposition on the payment of the POFs at the ports.
The source said this was also to ensure that all the agents who have cases at the ports over the collection withdraw them, while others planning to go to court drop the idea.
It was gathered that the biggest problem the Council has is that many of the critics are not in favour of being settled through their associations as planned by the management of CRFFN.
The Council had reached a gentleman agreement with the associations registered with it to settle them with some percentage of the collections, one of the reasons their leadership had soft-pedalled on their earlier opposition to the collection.
The Council is currently consdering a more formal and legal way of settling all the agrieved agents who had made their voices clear against the collection.
There have been lamentations among customs agents over the POF collection which started recently after failed attempts.
The CRFFN had struck a deal to get the terminal operators and shipping companies ensure that payment of POFs by the agents was mandatory for release of their goods.
Efforts meade by SHIPPING DAY get the Registrar of the Council, Mr Sam Nwakohu react on the issues raised failed as he could not be reached on phone.
The Congregation of Registered Freight Forwarding Practitioners of Nigeria , (CREFFPON) had expressed displeasure over the most recent introduction of payment of Ports Operating Fees (POFs) by the CRFFN.
The freight forwarders in a statement signed by the Fwdr Edwin Chukwudire, a practitioner based in Tin Can Island port, gave an indication that the increasing prices of goods in the market cannot be unassociated with such fees among other corrupt practices at the ports.
He said that importers who have resisted the payment have had to incur demurrage on their goods as terminal operators decided not to release them for the benefit of collecting more demurrage on the items.
The CRFFN management was accused of administrative inefficiency , saying the POF was coming after the Council woefully failed to institute professionalism in the freight forwarding subsector, adding that the absence of professional scale of charges in the sector was . promoting non competitiveness in the system.
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRRFN) is making frantic efforts at pacifying aggrieved members who have mounted strong opposition against the collection of Ports Operating Fees (POFs) in the ports.
A source close to the Council told SHIPPING DAY that the regulatory agency arrived at this decision in view of the continued opposition on the payment of the POFs at the ports.
The source said this was also to ensure that all the agents who have cases at the ports over the collection withdraw them, while others planning to go to court drop the idea.
It was gathered that the biggest problem the Council has is that many of the critics are not in favour of being settled through their associations as planned by the management of CRFFN.
The Council had reached a gentleman agreement with the associations registered with it to settle them with some percentage of the collections, one of the reasons their leadership had soft-pedalled on their earlier opposition to the collection.
The Council is currently consdering a more formal and legal way of settling all the agrieved agents who had made their voices clear against the collection.
There have been lamentations among customs agents over the POF collection which started recently after failed attempts.
The CRFFN had struck a deal to get the terminal operators and shipping companies ensure that payment of POFs by the agents was mandatory for release of their goods.
Efforts meade by SHIPPING DAY get the Registrar of the Council, Mr Sam Nwakohu react on the issues raised failed as he could not be reached on phone.
The Congregation of Registered Freight Forwarding Practitioners of Nigeria , (CREFFPON) had expressed displeasure over the most recent introduction of payment of Ports Operating Fees (POFs) by the CRFFN.
The freight forwarders in a statement signed by the Fwdr Edwin Chukwudire, a practitioner based in Tin Can Island port, gave an indication that the increasing prices of goods in the market cannot be unassociated with such fees among other corrupt practices at the ports.
He said that importers who have resisted the payment have had to incur demurrage on their goods as terminal operators decided not to release them for the benefit of collecting more demurrage on the items.
The CRFFN management was accused of administrative inefficiency , saying the POF was coming after the Council woefully failed to institute professionalism in the freight forwarding subsector, adding that the absence of professional scale of charges in the sector was . promoting non competitiveness in the system.
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