Thousands Of Imported Containers Trapped At APMT In Weeks Of ‘System Breakdown’

…Importers, Agents Count Losses

For close to two weeks, business activities at AP Moller Terminal (APMT) in Apapa port have been near comatose due to server breakdown , leading to frustration and anger on the part of clearing agents and importers, who complained that they have not been able to transact businesses with the terminal.

A visit by our correspondent to the terminal on Monday showed that are a large number of agents waiting to get first hand information from officials of the terminal about the development.

Our correspondent also gathered that the handling of documents that the terminal adopted has not helped matters.
The situation has made it near impossible to either position containers for customs examination or to release containers to the consignees.

Reacting to the situation, a licensed customs agent; Comrade Stephen Ibe recounted his ordeal in the terminal since the system broke down.
At the administrative hall of the concessionaire, an electronic message read thus: “Dear Esteemed Customers, as a result of system downtime, we will be attending only to all backlog of transactions collected from Monday 12th April to Thursday 17th April, 2015. All fresh jobs will be attended to by Saturday18th April, 2015. All waivers will be granted where necessary including shipping. Kindly bear with us at this period. Signed: Management”.
The NAGAFF chieftain lamented that the breakdown started shortly after the last Easter holiday, adding that nobody has been able to explain the cause.

He noted that “meanwhile, I saw their notice when I went to their City Office at Apapa that they will waive the demurrage accrued to them as well as that of the shipping companies but to my greatest surprise, when debit note came out, I saw that they did not do anything.

“What they waived was three day, three days is for what? Instead of for about fourteen days”.

“I am going to fight it, they must refund me and even pay me demurrage, because I am having a big showdown with my importer now who has said that I am a liar, that I promised to deliver the containers and that I am supposed to deliver them as I promised. Most of these importers, they don’t understand what we are saying.

“My relationship with my clients now has been soiled by the AP Moller, upon that they are not giving the waiver that they talked about”.

“As am speaking with you, today’s date is 20th April and you know when elections were held, that was 11th of April, the whole thing is still on”, he lamented.

Meanwhile tracing the genesis of the problem, an agent who spoke to journalists, on condition of anonymity said that the problem started on Saturday before Easter where it just emanated as a rumour that the terminal had systems problem.

He noted that on Tuesday after the Easter break, which was the 7th April, 2015, APMT was unable to raise debit note. He said this was a marked departure from the usual practice whereby all APMT charges are paid online since all of the terminal’s payments were automated.

According to him, “so, when we got here that Tuesday, they said they were having system challenges, that they couldn’t attend to us that very Tuesday very well.

"That same Tuesday, they started giving us manual debit note; they were unable to position containers for examination because they said they couldn’t locate the particular location of the containers because they used to check the location on their system. Since then, we have been facing challenges up till now”.

“They told us they are working on the issue but you know anything concerning network problem, you can’t say this is the time they are going to rectify it”.

On whether or not he has seen anybody the terminal had given waiver as promised, he said, “really, my own job has not got to that extent. When I collect the debit note, I will know whether they are giving waivers or not and how many days that they waived”.

“I am facing one issue now, I have a container they have not positioned. I booked the container since on Friday (10th April 2015), they said that they were going to position it on the 13th of April and up till now, they have not positioned the container. They keyed it into the server, you know I said they couldn’t locate the position of the container”, he said.

Another agent, Mr. Kay Smith Adekunle observed that activities at the terminal had been slowed down for the past two weeks regretting that the development affected clearing agents most as they could not proceed with shipping companies procedures.

He noted that he went to the shipping company to collect his debit note and that immediately he got there; they printed it for him saying that it did not take him up to five minutes to get that done with the shipping company.

“Now, it has started counting as from today. So, I don’t know how long it will take to resolve this problem and they don’t want to know what we are facing here because their own system is quite different from terminal operator’s. So, they are counting it now a daily basis”.

“Normally, they (APMT) promised they will be giving waiver but I have not seen anybody they have given because the shipping companies, they have their own charges too.

"If you cannot meet up with this terminal charges, the shipping charges will be going and when their charges expire, they will now go and raise additional charges in the shipping companies”, he said.

Adekunle added that the importers for whom they work would believe that they were not working since the APMT management usually call them telling them that they (APMT) were working whereas in the real sense of it they were not working thus shifting the whole blames on the agent who in turn would be having issues of distrust with their importers.http://shippingposition.com.ng/article/thousands-imported-containers-trapped-apmt-weeks-%E2%80%98system-breakdown%E2%80%99