Reprieve has come the way of importers and clearing agents in Lagos who have been granted delivery order extension for goods caught in the web of the strike embarked upon by dockworkers in Apapa ports. The industrial action has now been suspended.
In an announcement over the weekend, Maersk Line, the parent body of APM Terminals, the affected traders and their agents have a deadline of Tuesday 26 July to extend their delivery orders. This is specifically for all shipments released between Monday 18 July and Thursday 21 July, the period of the strike.
Last week, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria embarked on strike, which disrupted normal operations at the foremost terminal, following the inability of the parties to reach a truce on workers’ welfare.
Upon the suspension of the warning strike, Maersk Line last Saturday announced, through its customer advisory medium, the reprieve for all the affected goods at the APM Terminals, adding that terminal operations had commenced all terminal activities.
The announcement indicated that “to mitigate the impact of the strike on your delivery plans, please be informed that Maersk would be extending delivery orders till Tuesday 26 July 2022, for all shipments released between Monday 18 July and Thursday 21 July 2022, and whose validity dates were from 20 to 22 July 2022.
“The extension would be done automatically and revised delivery orders sent via email to the clearing agency for the shipments that fall in this category.
“Please approach the terminal to effect delivery within this validity period.
“Further, our Lagos counter and telephone lines would be open tomorrow Saturday 23 July 2022 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. And, there will be extended counter operation hours from Monday 25th July 2022”.
Maersk called on the concerned importers and their agents to avail themselves of the opportunity and approach its relevant counter for cargo release and export requests.
