The Head of Complaints unit of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr Daniel Orume has encouraged Sifax Group of Companies, one of its major stakeholders, to forward the operational challenges issues bothering the company to the council for consideration and possible intervention.
Orume, who led his team on an advocacy visit to Sifax main terminal office at Tin Can Island Port Apapa, Lagos on Thursday, commended the company for recording few complaints from the stakeholders, and that he would present its complaints to the NSC’s Executive Secretary/CEO upon receipt for discussion with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Orume, a Deputy Director, also informed Sifax Group that issues of overtime cargoes and the need for terminal representatives to be at Ikorodu Terminal would be addressed with the Nigeria Customs Service.
He charged the company and other terminals in the country to be fair and just in terms of transfer charges to the consignees, especially when transfers are carried out without the prior consent of the consignees.
Earlier, Sifax Group’s Executive Director, Mr Bode Ojeniyi requested the NSC to intervene on accessibility to foreign exchange through the CBN for the purchase of ports equipment and spare parts. Ojeniyi also requested that the Council should intervention on non receipt of 25 percent of auction value on overtime cargoes that had been transferred to Ikorodu Terminals based on Nigeria Ports Authority’s directives. The Sifax further lamented that the transfer cost is borne by the terminals in the country.
Orume’s team also visited Lagos and Niger Shipping Agencies Limited (LANSAL) as part of its advocacy drive where he urged shipping agencies to comply with the Ease of Doing Business policy. “As a referee in the industry, the Council is always fair to all the stakeholders”.
The NSC team lead called on LANSAL to pay consignees container deposits without delay, if there is no financial indebtedness from customers. He explained the importance of Port Service Support Portal (PSSP), a real time platform for complaints handling, and tasked the company to forward names and email addresses of their staff for profiling on the platform.
He also advised LANSAL to stop placing unnecessary cargo lien, especially on customers that are not indebted. “We do not want to accrued a third party liability,” he stated, urging the company to enhance its operations and minimise costs.
Receiving the complaints team, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Todd Rives commended the team for the advocacy initiative. He said that LANSAL has always collaborated with NSC to raise industry standards and improve service delivery for customers in Nigeria.
He also said that the company values its customers and often offers waivers. “Ee continue to be customer friendly; we operate an electronic booking system,” he said.
He however lamented that “we have hundreds of containers stuck with customers, while some are at the port.
About 300 boxes are in Ikorodu Port and lots in APMT ”, he said, adding “we get from pressure from our principals to return empties”.
Other challenges, he said, included frequent stoppage of cargo by the Police. “On every vessel, we record over 50 cargo stoppage by the Police,” he alleged.
At Five Star Logistics Limited, Orume said the Council, as an unbiased umpire, would only be happy when both providers and consumers of service in the industry conform with the standard operating procedure.
Orume explained that the complaints handlers were not tasked with challenging the operations of the terminals, but “we are here to abet your business investments. The Council will always bridge the gap and compel your debtors to do the needful”.
He highlighted the significance of the PSSP, a complaints management and portal service support solution aimed at addressing business to business transactions knots in the country, and then urged the operators to forward names and emailaddresses of their staff for profiling on the platform.
The company’s Terminal Manager, Mr Jaysing Kamuth said although he is new on the job, he had been briefed that NSC has been a reliable ally since 2006.
Kamuth further stated that Five Star Logistics is working on the paperless system in order to add value to its customer service delivery.
He added that their company appreciated the Council’s unique way of handling stakeholders grievances and “we will always contact Shippers’ Council in case of any trade infraction”.
Kamuth assured NSC case handlers that the company would always ensure efficient supply chain in their operations.
