Importers groan as Customs returns to 100% manual cargo inspection

Importers are counting their losses following delays in cargo clearance which have resulted in goods taking 21days to clear at the nation’s ports instead of seven days, BusinessDay investigations reveal.

This development, according to BusinessDay findings, is because the Customs Department has resorted to 100 percent manual cargo inspection, following the breakdown of the scanning equipment at Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports.

Just on Monday, a survey carried out by NAFITH, an international company, pointed out that Nigerian ports need to introduce more electronically powered operations, such as paperless Customs; electronic risk-based inspection; e-payment of Customs duty; e-container loading list and e-permit exchange, among operators, to fast track clearance.

“Presently, the scanner in Apapa port is not working and it is undergoing overhaul. But we brought another mobile scanner from Lilypond Container Terminal in Ijora, to back the one that was in Apapa before. Now, we have one fixed scanner and two mobile scanners,” Emma Ekpa, public relations officer of Apapa Customs, said, in response to BusinessDay inquires.      

Ekpa further said: “On the issue of the operational level of the scanners, from time to time, we record the issue of system breakdown, which is normal, but we are very proactive in making sure that the equipment begins full operations in less than no time.”

He pointed out that at the Apapa port, Customs conduct both physical examination and scanning on containers, adding that most cargoes pass through physical examination because the Federal Government gave Customs a directive that all imports into the country must undergo physical examination for security reasons.

Charles Edike, Customs Area Controller for Apapa, also confirmed that the scanners at the port were undergoing repairs.

“It is only physical examination of cargo that is carried out in Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports and this is delaying fast clearance of cargo at the ports.”

“From my investigation, decrease in the usage of scanners by Customs started from September 2014 and till date, goods go through 100 percent physical examination,” confirmed Tony Anakebe, managing director of Gold-Link investment Limited, a clearing and forwarding company.

Anakebe added that the development has resulted in long queues of yet to be examined containers at the examination bay, given the large volume of cargoes that pass through Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports.

“The breakdown of the scanners is causing a lot of delay in cargo clearance and the terminal operators who handle these containers and drop them at the examination bay for Customs’ inspection are having a hard time because un-cleared containers are congesting the port.”

Anakebe observed that relying on 100 percent physical examination has undermined the essence of the subsisting Destination Inspection (DI) contract, as well as private sector investment in the port, estimated at over N10 billion.

It has also hiked the cost of doing business at the port, as importers now spend a lot of money on demurrage to shipping companies, as well as storage charges to terminal operators for not taking delivery of their consignments in good time.

“Customs needs to put these equipment in proper condition in order to facilitate trade and to reduce the pains of importers and their agents, who spend weeks waiting for their consignments to be inspected,” Gozie Akudolu, an Nnewi based spare parts importer, told our correspondent.

Akudolu, who makes regular use of ports in Lagos, said “its always easy to go through scanning while clearing goods, but the problem with the scanning machines in the past months is costing my company a lot of time and money. “We prefer to scan our goods because it fast tracks clearance and also enables importers to get back their goods intact, unlike physical examination.”

Recall that the Federal Government entered into a seven-year contract with the destination inspection service providers, Cotecna Destination Inspection Limited (CDIL), Global Scansystems and SGS, to build and operate inspection equipment which was handed over to Customs at the expiration of contract in December 2013.

AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE