Eastern Ports: Shippers Accuse Freight Forwarders of Incompetence, Link Issue to Wasteful Costs to Importers
*Task CRFFN, other associations on capacity building for members
By Francis Ugwoke
Freight forwarders and customs brokers in the South South and South East ports were weekend accused of incompetence, a development which is contributing to the challenges being encountered by many importers and exporters in Port Harcourt and Onne ports.
Rivers/ Bayelsa Shippers Association (RIBASA), said the major issues being faced by many importers in Port Harcourt and Onne ports were recurring laxity on the part of some customs agents.
President of the Association, Mr Ofon Udofia said some of them just collect money from the shippers without doing a good job, adding that this has caused a lot of delay as well as more costs for the importers.
Udofia said while some of them can hardly handle the required documentation, the experienced ones do not demonstrate the zeal and competence to do a fast job.
He said that those in this category simply engage the services of serving customs officers to do the clearing for them.
He said that what the practitioners need was training on the job to be able to cope with the new trend of automation being canvassed by the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) as the ports economic regulator.
He said this issue has been affecting the 24 hour clearing process in the ports, apart from the issue of insecurity in the country.
He disclosed that his association plans to approach the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) to sponsor the training of the practitioners on the changing trends in clearing.
Udofia said, “Nigeria cannot do 24 hour clearing process because of the things against us. Apart from security issue, part of the problems are the clearing agents. Some of them cannot fill forms. We did research recently, we are still on it, they just collect jobs and approach the customs to help them do the clearing. You see that most of the importers spend more money for using clearing agents that are not competent. So part of my suggestion is that the Customs Service is not about collecting money from somebody and making him an agent, there is need for continuous mandatory training for agents. They need to know what is happening internationally, because shipping , whether export or import is an international trade. It requires a lot of paper work. These agents can also employ a shipping manager to do some of these jobs . It is not that all of them are bad, but now that there is the drive for automation or paperless work, a lot of them cannot cope very well. Some of them cannot fill a form which is about your name, you phone number and address. With this, can such a person do all the documentations to clear somebody’s goods. So these agents are part of the problems. We are trying to hold talks with their associations on the need for training. But the issue is that many people just believe they can do it. What we are doing is to see how the training can be sponsored because if you tell them to pay, it becomes a problem. We are trying to approach the CRFFn too to help in training “.
Udofia commended the NSC for the efforts being made to ensure that there is an improvement on the efficiency of ports operation.
By Francis Ugwoke
Freight forwarders and customs brokers in the South South and South East ports were weekend accused of incompetence, a development which is contributing to the challenges being encountered by many importers and exporters in Port Harcourt and Onne ports.
Rivers/ Bayelsa Shippers Association (RIBASA), said the major issues being faced by many importers in Port Harcourt and Onne ports were recurring laxity on the part of some customs agents.
President of the Association, Mr Ofon Udofia said some of them just collect money from the shippers without doing a good job, adding that this has caused a lot of delay as well as more costs for the importers.
Udofia said while some of them can hardly handle the required documentation, the experienced ones do not demonstrate the zeal and competence to do a fast job.
He said that those in this category simply engage the services of serving customs officers to do the clearing for them.
He said that what the practitioners need was training on the job to be able to cope with the new trend of automation being canvassed by the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) as the ports economic regulator.
He said this issue has been affecting the 24 hour clearing process in the ports, apart from the issue of insecurity in the country.
He disclosed that his association plans to approach the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) to sponsor the training of the practitioners on the changing trends in clearing.
Udofia said, “Nigeria cannot do 24 hour clearing process because of the things against us. Apart from security issue, part of the problems are the clearing agents. Some of them cannot fill forms. We did research recently, we are still on it, they just collect jobs and approach the customs to help them do the clearing. You see that most of the importers spend more money for using clearing agents that are not competent. So part of my suggestion is that the Customs Service is not about collecting money from somebody and making him an agent, there is need for continuous mandatory training for agents. They need to know what is happening internationally, because shipping , whether export or import is an international trade. It requires a lot of paper work. These agents can also employ a shipping manager to do some of these jobs . It is not that all of them are bad, but now that there is the drive for automation or paperless work, a lot of them cannot cope very well. Some of them cannot fill a form which is about your name, you phone number and address. With this, can such a person do all the documentations to clear somebody’s goods. So these agents are part of the problems. We are trying to hold talks with their associations on the need for training. But the issue is that many people just believe they can do it. What we are doing is to see how the training can be sponsored because if you tell them to pay, it becomes a problem. We are trying to approach the CRFFn too to help in training “.
Udofia commended the NSC for the efforts being made to ensure that there is an improvement on the efficiency of ports operation.
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