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A new era for shipping, allied businesses to thrive

Maritime trade in Nigeria, which has the potential to play a significant role in the country’s economic development, is expected to rebound this year after series of challenges, BAYO AKOMOLAFE reports

 

Growth in global containerised trade would experience a startling turnaround in the shipping industry this year with the commencement of ship repairs through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)’s N50 billion floating dock concessioned based on Operate Maintain and Transfer (OMT) basis for 15 years and the emergence of a new shipping connectivity to Lekki Port.

In the past, ship calling in the country’s coastal waters spend $500million annually to dry dock their vessels in Ghana and overseas, leading to capital flight. With the advent of the floating dock, the money spent on dry dock overseas is expected to be retained in the country from this year.

Also, the commencement of commercial operation at the Lekki Port is expected to boost three million tonnes of transshipment trade to some locked countries in West Africa. In addition, the port will be connected to the existing ports to feed them with cargoes. Port operation For instance, the Managing Director, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL), Mr. Du Ruogang, said that the $1.5 billion newly completed Lekki Deep Sea Port would commence commercial operations in the first quarter of 2023 to boost the economy.

According to him, the company has put everything in place to give a world-class port experience, adding that all the relevant agencies have been sensitised to undertake their roles in the new port. New port The development of Bonny Deep seaport in Bonny Island is to commence this year if the Minister of Transportation, Engineer Mu’azu Sambo, secures approval from the Federal Government.

Regional shipping

Besides, the Head, Strategy and Communication, Nigeria Export- Import Bank, NEXIM, Mr Tayo Omioji, said that in the first quarter of 2023, a sub-Sahara regional shipping line, Sealink, floated by a consortium would begin operations, saying that it would cut the cost of shipping in the country. Omioji explained that the Sealink Project was conceived out of the need for Nigeria to have its regional shipping as the country currently engages the service of foreign vessels to move goods outside the country.

He said: “Reliance on foreign vessels increases cost and travel time as goods are first moved from Nigeria to the point of origin of the vessels and then to the final destination. If we have our own shipping line, we can move our goods from other countries and bring them directly to Nigeria before moving to other countries.”

Customs

This year, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said that it would put measures in place to deploy aerial surveillance technology across all 364 approved international border points bordering the country between January and June 2023 to monitor events around the borders to checkmate criminal elements. The spokesperson for the Service, Mr Timi Bomodi, said that NCS had kick-started a modernisation project to deploy drones, and satellite images across Nigeria’s borders by mid-2023.

 

According to him, the service had adopted the use of non-intrusive pieces of equipment such as microscopes, and others in some designated borders. NIWA Also, as the joint committee of both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Marine Transport rejected its budget proposals, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) is to exit the National budget in the 2023 fiscal year.

 

The Managing Director of the authority, Dr George Moghalu, said that the agency was determined to become fully self funding by 2023. He declared the authority was determined more than ever to become fully self funding by 2023 upon the passage of the NIWA bill, geared towards up scaling development of inland water transportation in Nigeria and economic viability of the agency.

 

He noted: “Consequently, the authority in its year 2022 proposal accorded priority to the completion of all on-going projects, especially those that align with the new policy objectives of the Federal Government’s Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) 2021- 2025 and Nigeria Agenda 2050.”

NPA

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) also assured that the port system would be fully automated by the end of 2023 in order to create a platform where all port-related government agencies would come together through the single window. To actualise this, the Managing Director of the authority, Mr Mohammed Bello Koko, noted that NPA had consulted the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regarding the deployment of the Port Community System (PCS), which is an Information Technology solution that would accommodate the sharing of information among other government agencies and stakeholders. He said: We currently have the Oracle E-Business solutions where we have the Oracle Financial, Oracle Hyparium and Oracle Budgeting.

 

The Port Community System is not an IT solution that will do away with E-customs or other IT platforms that other stakeholders have but it is supposed to be a platform where everyone can plug in.” Furthermore, Bello Koko stressed that the approval for the development of a deep seaport in Bonny would be achieved before the end of the life of the present administration.

NIMASA

In addition the apex maritime regulator in the country, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) revealed that it would inaugurate the issuance of the Seafarers Identification Document (SID) Nigerian seafarers before the end of the first quarter of year 2023.

The Director-General of the agency, Dr Bashir Jamoh, assured seafarers and dockworkers that the equipment that would be used for the issuance of the SID had been ordered, saying that it would start arriving any moment from now.

 

He explained: “It is an international document that cannot be rejected, it’s even better than your passport, wherever you go, you would be accepted as a seafarer.

We have finished the software system and we have ordered for the equipment.” Jamoh promised to engage the managing director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to bring back tally clerks and onboard security men at Nigerian ports this year, noting that they were the ones that ensure accuracy of outgoing and incoming cargoes in the port.

CRFFN

In addition, freight forwarders who failed to possess at least a diploma in freight forwarding by the end of 2023 would be deregistered and not allow to operate in Nigerian seaports by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). The Registrar of the council, Barrister Sam Nwakohu, explained in December, 2022 that it was a mandate of the council to ensure that all practicing freight forwarders got duly registered, certified and professionalised, adding that it was the decision of the council to deregister any freight forwarder who did not possess at least a diploma in freight gorwarding by the end of 2023.

The registrar urged the freight forwarders to ensure enrolment for training and get fully-certified before the deadline, to avoid being deregistered or denied a place of practice of freight forwarding in Nigeria.

Also, the National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Chief Tochukwu Esizi, said that the association would continue to keep its promise of bringing in new ideas and innovation into the maritime industry, through new and evolving digital technology, maintaining and improving new values, standards, ethics and professional ethos of the industry in 2023. He sought the entrenchment of professionalism in the practice of freight forwarding in Nigeria. 2023 Preview

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