The Nigerian Shippers’ Council has directed Inland Container Nigeria Limited to bear 70% of a $72,777 liability following a dispute over a damaged shipment of black-eye beans.
The council issued this directive as part of its resolution on a complaint filed by USBAB MultiChoice Limited, which exported two containers of black-eye beans from the Kaduna Inland Dry Port to Jebel Ali Port, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, according to The Punch.
The exporter, USBAB, attributed the damage to delays allegedly caused by ICNL and the shipping line, Maersk Nigeria Limited.
It explained on Tuesday that in a letter of complaint received via the NSC’s port office in Kaduna, the Managing Director of USBAB MultiChoice Limited, Mr. Usman Ahmad, stated that two export containers of cowpea black eye beans were damaged and pegged the value of the beans at $104,111.75.
He claimed that the delays at the inland port terminal and by Maersk Line were responsible for the loss and requested the council’s intervention to recover the associated costs, which included N1.65 million for terminal and documentation fees.
“If the cargo was shipped on schedule, having paid all necessary charges to ICNL from the beginning of the transaction, the damage would have been avoided,” the USBAB boss said.
The complainant also denied receiving any notification from the Federal Produce Inspection Agency or Inland Container Nigeria Limited (ICNL) regarding the need to repeat fumigation after 21 days, as indicated in the Certificate of Quality, Fumigation, Good Packaging Materials, and Weight.
According to the statement by NSC, the exporter disclosed that additional claims were received from the importer in Dubai, alongside other supporting documents, as USBAB sought the council’s assistance in recovering all funds spent on the damaged black-eye beans and the export process.
However, the shippers’ council explained that it held tripartite meetings at the Kaduna Port Office where all relevant parties, USBAB MultiChoice Limited, Kaduna Inland Dry Port/ ICNL, FPIS, Anglia International Services Ltd (Pre-shipment Agent), and the NSC complaints team before amicably resolving the complaint.
The chairman of the meeting and Deputy Director of Kaduna Port Office, Mr Paul Garnva, welcomed all parties to the meeting and informed that Kaduna Port Office regulates the Dry Port and protects shippers in terms of cost, effective, and efficient service delivery.
He pointed out that since the commencement of operations over 16 sets of 16,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) import containers have been cleared, while more than 50 TEU export containers have been processed.
In its ongoing inquiry, the NSC noted that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency had put the shipment on hold for nearly a month, even as it currently seeks empirical evidence to verify when both Maersk Line and the NDLEA informed the terminal and when NDLEA engaged the terminal for the release of the containers.
FPIS also gave its explanation on which of the agencies in the export clearance chain is in charge of moisture because the space for moisture content of commodity on the certificate was blank.
The council also raised issues such as “delays in trying to correct the Bill of Lading of the damaged cargo; sought to know from the pre-shipment agent, the type of container most suitable for export of agricultural produce; and who is to advise on the packaging of all export cargoes?”
Responding, the representatives of Anglia International Services Ltd, the pre-shipment agent, Messrs Bodam Sammy, and Hyacinth Louis, informed the meeting that “they received the beans and inspected them in line with their mandate,”
They outlined their responsibilities to include ensuring there was no disparity between the documentation and the goods declared by the exporter, verifying that the Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme conformed with the declared goods, ensuring proper documentation, and submitting an inspection report to their head office for the issuance of a Clean Certificate of Inspection.
The pre-shipment agent highlighted that in this particular case, a thorough physical examination was conducted, confirming that the bags and the type of beans were in compliance with the declared standards.
The FPIS representative, Mr. Usman Suleiman, also stated he inspected the beans and found them to be well-dried without stones and certified them to be of exportable quality.
He equally posited that he fumigated the two containers and further pointed out that the only thing he observed was that during stuffing, the containers were not properly dressed and he raised an observation, but ICNL responded that the containers would not stay long at the terminal.
After careful assessment of all the documents submitted during the previous tripartite meetings, the legal advice received from the council’s Directorate of Legal Services as well as a review of the role both parties played in the transaction, the council resolved that the ability-sharing formula should be 70 per cent for Kaduna Inland Dry Port (ICNL) being the appointed terminal operator and forwarder with the responsibility to ensure that the cargo is transported and delivered in safe and good condition, while 30 per cent for the exporter, (USBAB MultiChoice Limited) for failure to heed experts advice on how to properly preserve the beans and prevent it from damage.
