Shippers express high hope for better export and import businesses in 2017

Shippers, under the aegis of Shippers’ Association of Lagos State have expressed hope for increased volume of import and export businesses through the nation’s seaports in 2017.

“We believe that with the various representations made to the Federal Government by various organisations, there would be lots of changes in 2017 and we are hopeful for increased export and import businesses this year,” says Jonathan Nicole, president, Shippers’ Association of Lagos State.

Nicole, who expressed believe that Federal Government would be ready to inculcate the sanity required in the port system to enable things fall into place, added that the year 2016 was very difficult for shippers.

According to him, the past year came with vicious challenges on shippers. “We had the foreign exchange rate that almost crippled our industrial environment which 41 items were blacklisted from accessing forex from official window, and this deprived industries of the needed raw materials. Exchange rate for Customs import duty for cargo clearance became a challenge after it was increased from N199/$ to as much as N313/$.  The rate approved in the Form M was different from the rate the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) introduced.  Thereby, creating untold financial hardship, as importers needed more foreign currency to clear their cargo.”

Nicole further noted that there were restrictions on domestic commodities within the period in review and this resulted in heavy movement of smugglers. “The resultant effect was massive diversion of vessels to other African ports as the number of vessels to Nigeria reduced drastically. The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) lost huge revenue as a result of this movement and cargo loss from Nigerian seaports were estimated at 75 percent, which also created a big gap in the off-dock terminals.”

Listing the signs of improvement for a better 2017, the Shippers’ Association boss stated that there were some changes introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on forex management, restricting Bureau the Change that dominated the scene last year.

“In the fourth quarter of last year, some resemblance of exchange control was relaxed allowing only the banks to control sales of the various foreign currencies.  This enabled few imports into our ports in the last quarter of the year,” he added.

Emmanuel Nwabunwanne, a Lagos based importer, who lamented on the role played by scarcity of foreign exchange and devaluation of naira in limiting foreign trade and reducing import volume in 2016, said the future of the nation’s economy lies in the hands of the national economic management team, whose role is to make strategic economic decisions that would drive the economy.

“Export business is looking up and may be a major driver of the economy in 2017 because investors are making serious plans and positioning to take advantage of the Federal Government’s economic diversification plans especially in the area of agriculture,” he added.