Container handling charges at Nigeria's ports have increased by a whopping 300 per cent as a result of new charges introduced by shipping companies and terminal operators to discourage importers from having cargo overstay at terminals.
The fee hike is said to contravene the federal government's plan to lower port charges to 30 per cent of what the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) used to collect, reported Johannesburg's Business Day.
Boniface Aniebonam, chairman of the board of trustees of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), said importers used to pay NGN11,715 (US$100) per TEU before concession and NGN18,158 per FEU during the NPA era.
He was cited as saying that the AP Moller Maersk Terminal was charging NGN50,285 per TEU and NGN68,068 per FEU, which imposed 329 per cent and 274 per cent increases over what the fee was before the concession.