Union of African Shippers Council rejects bunker levy
The Union of African Shippers Council members countries have rejected the move by ship owners to rail road shippers into paying additional charges for alleged pollution on international waters otherwise called bunker levy, PM News Nigeria reports.
The UASC members during a two-day joint committee meeting held recently in Abuja observed that they are not pollutants, therefore to pay the bill is unacceptable, moreso when the MARPOL convention requires that it is the polluter that must pay.
Rising from the meeting, the member countries noted that if not acted upon immediately and counter-measures taken, the tax may be imposed on them. They agreed that serious sensitization and lobbying has to be embarked upon in order to strongly oppose the tax which has not been conceived by International Maritime Organisation, IMO, but is being pushed forward by ship owners who want to pass the buck to shippers.
Captain Adamu Biu, the executive officer, CEO, and executive secretary of the Nigeria Shippers’ Council, observed that considering that the enforcement of this tax will have a negative effect on import and export operations, participants recommended that Dr. Koffi Mbia, the Chief Executive of Ghana Shippers Authority be requested to closely follow up the evolution of the tax at the level of IMO and inform UASC, taking necessary steps to sensitize the international chamber of shipping on the issue and the preparation of argument to be used against the imposition by the UASC secretariat. UASC advised on the issue of Single Window Operations in the ports, and that shippers’ councils that have already set up the initiative in their councils or countries are to outline the way it is being operated in order to share experiences with other UASC members.
The UASC members during a two-day joint committee meeting held recently in Abuja observed that they are not pollutants, therefore to pay the bill is unacceptable, moreso when the MARPOL convention requires that it is the polluter that must pay.
Rising from the meeting, the member countries noted that if not acted upon immediately and counter-measures taken, the tax may be imposed on them. They agreed that serious sensitization and lobbying has to be embarked upon in order to strongly oppose the tax which has not been conceived by International Maritime Organisation, IMO, but is being pushed forward by ship owners who want to pass the buck to shippers.
Captain Adamu Biu, the executive officer, CEO, and executive secretary of the Nigeria Shippers’ Council, observed that considering that the enforcement of this tax will have a negative effect on import and export operations, participants recommended that Dr. Koffi Mbia, the Chief Executive of Ghana Shippers Authority be requested to closely follow up the evolution of the tax at the level of IMO and inform UASC, taking necessary steps to sensitize the international chamber of shipping on the issue and the preparation of argument to be used against the imposition by the UASC secretariat. UASC advised on the issue of Single Window Operations in the ports, and that shippers’ councils that have already set up the initiative in their councils or countries are to outline the way it is being operated in order to share experiences with other UASC members.