Shippersย Association Lagos State (SALS) has said that shippers lost more than N5 trillion in one month due to the Coronavirus pandemic, that forced businesses, banks, offices and factories to shut down.
The shippers are also seeking 35 per cent reductionย of shipping charges during the nationwide lock down.
Its President, Rev Jonathan Nicol, said in a statement that shippers should not be sanctioned for a situation they did not cause as the lockdown compelledย them to carry out their transactions across the ports.
He however commendedย the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigerian Shippersโ Council for securing demurrage waiver to cover the period of the COVID-19 lockdown
He added: โThe lock down made it impossible to pay Customs duties as expected. Banks, factories and offices were shutdown as well. So, there were gross limitation on the shippers to do the needful. It is a national lockdown that no one can violate, which is still prevailing.โ
โThe period of demurrages has no distinction, rather the government gave the incentive as palliative for shutting down our businesses for one month. But we lostย more than N5 trillion during that one month.โ
He therefore, appealed to the Nigerian Shippersโ Council to prevail on the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and NAFDAC to emulate the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) by waiving their handling charges on cargo for the period of battling the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic virus.
He hinted that the Association would be glad if banks could open for, at least, twice in a week to discharge shipping documents and confirmation of duty and terminal payments.
โThere are levels of actions which smaller branches of bank can discharge. We also call on shipping staff of various enterprises to pick shipping documents and conduct duty and terminal fee payments to compliment the efforts of the Nigerian Shippersโ Council in cargo clearance, especially for industries.ย โMuch as we are concerned about the current precautionary health conditions, the Nigerian Shippersโ Council representing Government directives would need your support in this respect. In addition, SALS would like the 35 per centย reduction from the shipping companies charges as speculated some time ago by the Nigerian Shippersโ Council on a Memorandum of Agreement,โ he said.
According to him, shippers hope to work especially now under very life threatening conditions, a sacrifice that should be appreciated by Government. He urgedย stakeholders to contribute towards the welfare of nationโs economy.
THE SUN
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