Cargoes At Risk, As Ship Owners Say Majority Of Barges  Not Insured

Worried about the looming dangers on cargo  safety, maritime stakeholders under the auspices of Nigerian Ship Association (NISA) has expressed dissatisfaction over  poor enforcement of barge operations in the nation’s waterways,  alleging that majority of the water crafts in the country are not insured.

 

The group lamented that despite the existence of barge operations in Nigeria, government agencies should sanction erring operators who failed to conform with Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) .

 

President of NISA, Alhaji Umar Aminu who disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos at a forum, reiterated that barging activities have come to stay in maritime transport operations but maintained that most of the barges have failed to meet the required standards.

 

Aminu who is also the Chairman, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry LCCI, Maritime Group,  affirmed that the modus operandi of some of the barges pose serious risk to ship  and cargo owners pointing out that insurance and certification of the water crafts should be taken into consideration by the relevant government agencies as criteria for operations.

 

 

He stressed that,”We have seen the activities of barging and they are doing a lot of work; we as ship owners we are happy with this development.

 

” However we have engaged the agencies to standardise those barges because we have seen where many people have lost their cargoes because when a barge sinks the cargo also sinks.

 

 

“I think these have been happening unfortunately and we have also seen where they pose a lot of risk to ships; I have so many videos and I personally have videos which is very very near means of accident that those barges would have caused but there should be some level of standardisation, a system of SOP for this barge operations is needed since we have seen that it is going to continue for a longer period .

 

“I think there is need for MACN to engage particularly, NPA, NIMASA and Shippers’Council to kind of have a standard for the kind of barges that should operate in our waters.

 

“They should  not only be certified but they should be able to be insured because the issue we have seen is that majority of them are not insured. So you are not only putting the cargo owners at risk, you are also putting the ship owners at risk, you are putting the life of the crew at risk, so the moment the barge and the tugboats are not insured then automatically every other thing is invalid and these are the things I think the agencies should look into.”

 

 

 

While speaking on some of the challenges faced by stakeholders on the movement of cargoes from the port to  shippers destination, the NISA President who is the Managing Director, Sea Transport Nigeria Limited affirmed  that  multiplicity of government agencies within the seaports  and it’s environs contribute negatively to the growth of the industry.

 

He noted that the multiplicity of the agencies cross checking consignments along the corridors have caused major setbacks in cargo clearance, adding that the process contributed negatively to the high cost of goods and services in Nigerian market.

 

He also called on MACN to intervene and  engage the federal government in finding lasting solutions to the challenges befalling maritime businesses.

 

By Roland Ekama