Stakeholders Assess Shippers’ Council’s Intervention on Shipping Charges

Industry players have begun evaluating the impact of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council’s (NSC) intervention on shipping charges, amid growing concern over high port costs and freight expenses affecting importers and exporters.

The assessment comes as the Council strengthens oversight of ship-related tariffs, charges and surcharges levied at Nigerian seaports , a move aimed at tackling unjustified fees and reducing logistics costs for traders. At a recent maritime forum, customs brokers, freight forwarders, importers and regulatory officials discussed whether NSC’s actions are yielding measurable relief at the docks.

Participants acknowledged that NSC’s interventions including enhanced audits of terminal operators’ charges, demand for transparent billing, and engagement with shipping lines have raised awareness of opaque pricing practices that long burdened the supply chain. They said this has prompted greater scrutiny of port access fees, container handling rates and inland logistics mark-ups.

However, many industry stakeholders said more needs to be done to translate policy pronouncements into tangible cost savings for end users. Some freight operators noted that shippers’ charges remain high relative to regional peers, attributing this partly to lingering institutional bottlenecks and overlapping levies from multiple agencies.

By Oshuniran Sheriff Ola