Why Shippers Council Should Canvass for Changes on Trade Terms, From CIF to CY/CY Now, by Ex-NAGAFF President
NSC CEO
*Says CIF responsible for inconsistency in ocean rates
*Advises NSC on how to end face-off between freight forwarders and shipping lines
By Francis Ugwoke
The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has been called upon to explore a national discourse for a change from the present shipping import terms of Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) which is the price quoted by the exporter including the costs of ocean transportation to the port of destination and insurance coverage to ‘Container Yards to Container Yards’ (CY/CY).
A freight forwarder and former President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Eugene Nweke, said the discourse for change has become apt as the CIF export terms into the country have brought about several abuses including “inconsistency in ocean rates, cargo shipping and import data impeding regulatory pricing to a certain level”.
Nweke argued that on the other hand, CY/CY
application has the capacity to “address myriads of practices constituting insanity in the shipping companies environment”.
The advice to the Executive Secretary, Hon Emmanuel Jime is coming as providers and consumers of shipping services in Nigeria, among other stakeholders, await plans by the new helmsman of the ports economic regulator to introduce a new agenda on improving on ports efficiency.
Jime had hinted on this agenda recently when some newsmen spoke to him in his office.
Nweke also told SHIPPING DAY in a chat that there was the need to rejig the Shipping Discussion Groups ( a Shipping Companies / stakeholders Engagements Forum) in consultation with the Shipping Association of Nigeria – SAN for the interest of the industry.
He said with this, the present face-off between the freight forwarders and shipping lines would have been uncalled for if the shipping companies and stakeholders Forum was actively in place.
He added that though the issues raised were important, the approach was not proper in the eyes of advocacy, adding that there was the need to close rank in order to promote Industrial harmony.
Noting that many changes have occurred in the global shipping Industry since 2008 with the establishment of the World Shipping Council based in Washington DC, Nweke said it was for the shipping companies to negotiate with ports for lower charges.
He said this is done based on volume discount proposals, for the good of the shipper, adding that this was not so “in our shipping environment”.
He also urged the shipping companies to promote more advanced container services to those parts of the world that still employ traditional shipping practices as well as “respect cross slot chattering ( operational agreements) among carriers and contracts of carriage of goods by sea”.
He regretted that the above were not the case in Nigeria as a result of common abuse in our environment.
Nweke also added, “The ES should revisit with sense of renewed vigor the issues of liner agent and fees therefrom. 90% of the shipping companies that have commercial interest in Nigeria have and maintain their own offices in Nigeria – as such they don’t require the services of a liner agent”.
According to him this was the reason for the continued “imposition of shipping line Agency Commission – SLAC which remains an extortive and illegal imposition against the Nigeria shippers”.
He added, “In the strength of this, the ES should evolve a regulatory order to the effect that shipping lines should put an end to the practice of effecting cargo release from its foreign or abroad Headquarters, not just for the associated delays it is a professional abuse in all ramifications if not an open insult to professionals in the industry”.
About Post Author
