NIMASA to impose sea protection levy

 The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said that every vessel that plied the nation’s waters must pay sea protection levy (SPL).

Julian Gunwa, director, marine environment management department, said this in a meeting with shipping companies in Lagos.

She said that NIMASA was empowered to collect the levy.

“The Federal Government official gazette number 158 Marine Environment Management Regulation 2012 empowers NIMASA to impose levies on all commercially operating vessels of 100 gross tonnage and above”, she said.

Gunwa was delivering a paper on ‘Implementation of Marine Environment Management Regulations 52 and 53 on Sea Protection Levy and Offshore Waste Reception Facilities’.

She said any ship that defaulted in the payment of the levies might be detained by NIMASA at any port or jetty until the levy was paid.