The Seaport Terminal Operators Association has stated that the 2006 port concession has eliminated the challenge of congestion surcharge imposed on the country by major shipping lines.
The Chairman of STOAN, Vicky Haastrup, who said this while addressing journalists after she hosted the new Country Managing Director of APM Terminals Nigeria, Frederik Klinke, recently in Lagos, said the 2006 port concession have saved the Federal Government about $8.5bn, which is equivalent to N3.9tn.
“It has helped in eliminating the notorious congestion surcharge hitherto imposed on our ports by major shipping lines under the aegis of the Europe-West Africa Trade Agreement.”
The association said that terminal operators have made significant investments running into billions of dollars at the six major seaports across the country.
She said that the money was hitherto paid to foreign shipping lines as a congestion surcharge adding that once the pending concession agreement is renewed, their members who are the concessionaires are ready to inject more funds.
“Nigeria’s port concession programme has been a monumental success. Many African countries send representatives here to understudy our port concession regime and how we were able to substantially increase investment and efficiency within a very short period of time. It shows the can-do spirit of Nigerians. The elimination of the port congestion surcharge has resulted in saving Nigeria’s trading community over $500m per annum. If you multiply that by the 17 years of port concession, that amounts to a savings of US$8.5bn to date. If you convert it to naira, that is a savings of more than N3.9tn to the Nigerian economy,” she said.
The STOAN boss added that the port concession programme reduced the waiting time of vessels coming into the nation’s seaports from an average of 45 days before 2006 to less than three days at present.
Haastrup said that the port concession has also led to the injection of private capital into port development, which has helped to free up government resources for other developmental purposes, eliminated port congestion and led to the modernisation of the country’s seaports.
According to her, “Other benefits of port concession, include, improved availability of cargo handling equipment, increased competition among terminal operators, improved welfare and training of port workers and the institution of a condition of service for dockworkers.”
Haastrup said prior to the port concession regime, dockworkers were treated as casual workers without employers and conditions of service.
“This narrative has since changed with the introduction of the Collective Bargaining Agreement through which we have created a condition of service for them and also created room for review of their remuneration every two years,” she said.
She urged the Federal Government to speed up the process of port concession renewals to enable terminal operators to inject fresh funds into the port to further boost the competitiveness of Nigerian ports.
Earlier, the Country Managing Director of APMT Nigeria, Frederik Klinke, said his company has a long-term commitment to Nigeria.
He assured that the terminals will continue to set new standards for port operation in the country and support the Federal Government’s drive to diversify the economy through the promotion of non-oil exports.
He also assured the STOAN Chairman that APMT will cooperate with the association to enhance and improve the efficiency of the nation’s seaports.
