The Nigerian Shippers’ Council may soon end the payment of Container Deposits.
Container deposit is a refundable amount charged by a shipping company payable by a shipper for the use of the item but which acts as a guarantee against damage, theft or detention.
This charge is often imposed because containers are valuable properties cherished by shipping companies.
The container deposit for a standard 20-foot container can be above $3000 while a standard 40″ may cost more than $4000.
Following complaints from shippers over the deposit, the NSC had in April directed international shipping companies to abolish it.
The Executive Secretary, NSC, Hassan Bello, indicated that the council had embarked on stakeholders’ registration to obtain relevant data and use same to press for the abolition of the container deposit, a gesture capable of ending positively stemming down inflation and the cost of doing business in the nation’s ports.
He said, “We need to register service providers. And service users. The registration is on a ‘know your customer’ basis.
“It is to ensure that our customers are known to us and to the authorities who provide them service.” Bello added that the gesture was embarked upon, after the council decided to abolish the payment of deposit on containers, having been convinced that it was an avoidable, burdensome expense.
He said shipping lines had told the council that the deposit was their only guarantee that the importers would return the containers, since they did not know them.
Unfortunately, an aspect of the terms and conditions of the transactions stipulates that except the containers were returned on time, the deposit would be forfeited; thereby becoming a structured conduit pipe for the shipping companies, since the Apapa gridlocks had ensured that the containers could never be timely returned, as the trucks queue for weeks while trying to exit the port or enter to return empty containers.
Bello gave the assurance that the council was determined to simplify the process of cargo clearing in Nigeria, not only to ensure the ease of doing business, but to physically ensure that the ports and the port users operate in a cost-effective environment.
