Friday, August 26, 2016
Groaning under intense
hardship imposed by poor government policies and global economic crunch, over
20 shipping firms have exited the nation's shores.
This is coming as
Dockworkers Union of Nigeria (DUN) lamented that over 3,000 workers have
already been laid off by various shipping companies, terminal operators and
logistic companies, owing to lack of financing and poor import policies of the
Federal Government.
The workers also blamed
the massive retrenchment on the inability of the Federal Government to meet its
joint venture obligation with the international oil companies which are major
partners with the marine logistic companies.
Some of the companies
that have already made an exit include Mitsui O.S.K Line, Nippon Yusen Kasha,
Taiwan's Evergreen Line, Messina Line, Hapag-Lloyd and Gold Star Line (GSL),
among others which were forced to withdraw from the West Africa route due to
growing losses as a result of declining volumes.
The President,
Dockworkers Union of Nigeria (DUN), Anthony Emmanuel Nted, yesterday bemoaned
the poor state of the ports, terminal and work environment in the maritime
industry.
Nted revealed that
about 20 shipping firms have left the shore of the country because of low
traffic occasioned by government importation policy.
According to him,
Nigeria as an import-dependent country cannot suddenly ban the importation of
the principal goods being generally consumed in the country.
"Hence, the
current government policy on importation though with the best intention seems
to be wreaking more havoc on the economy and ought to be reviewed
urgently," he said.
He, therefore, urged
the Federal Government to review the ban on the importation of rice, wheat,
vehicle spare parts and industrial machinery until the nation is able to
produce for local consumption. He added that the failure to do this would
encourage smuggling, diversion of ships to neighbouring countries, idle ports,
retrenchment of workers, unemployment and general loss of revenue to
government.
According to him, some
of the employers of Intels and other logistic companies, which render services
to the IOCs are being faced with financial challenges and therefore forced to
retrench workers.
He said: "The
non-payment of cash calls by government to these oil companies as per their
joint venture agreements has been a major setback to the funding of the service
of our employers (the logistic companies) and consequently responsible for the
massive retrenchment of our members."
But Nted decried the
alleged moves by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to sack a section of
dockworkers, tally clerks and onboard security men.
He lamented that the
volume of vehicles imported into the country through ports has collapsed to an
all-time-low, with the consequent loss of thousands of jobs in the industry.
This was attributed to
the duty regime introduced since 2014 and the implication of the new exchange
rate for duty calculation, which has made the importation of cars and trucks
too expensive.
"In the last two
years the number of vehicles in Nigeria has shrunk by almost two-thirds, while
the volume of cars smuggled through Cotonou continued unabated," he said.
Also, the Maersk Supply
Service, a part of Danish shipping and offshore energy conglomerate Maersk
Group, is apparently adopting austerity measures as it moves to reduce its
Offshore Supply Ship Vessel (OSV) fleet by 20 in the next 18 months, even as it
plans to reduce its crew pool by 400 offshore positions.
The company said that
the divestment plan was a response to vessels in lay-up, limited trading
opportunities and the global over-supply of offshore supply vessels in the
industry.
The Chief Executive
Officer of Maersk Supply Service, Jorn Madsen, said: "We are facing
unprecedented market conditions, and regrettably we have to further adjust our
crew pool. It is an unfortunate, but necessary step to safeguard the future of
our company".
He said: "One of
Maersk Supply Service's prime objectives is to attempt to restore the supply
demand balance in the offshore supply market. This is why the vast majority of
the divested vessels will be recycled or modified by their new owners to
compete outside their present segments."
Madsen said as a
consequence of the fleet reduction and the flagging of existing project vessels
to the Isle of Man registry, around 400 crew members would be made redundant as
a "necessary step to safeguard the future" of Maersk Supply Service.
"The decision was
taken in an attempt to improve the efficiency of the company and to stabilise
the liquidity and cash flows. The redundancy process is expected to be
completed by the end of September 2016," he stated.