尼日利亚港口管理局（NPA）于13日发布通知，因马士基航运、中远航运、APS和Lansal4家航运公司未遵守尼日利亚有关港区内集装箱运营管理相关规定而对其实施惩罚、制裁。自7月14日起，禁止停靠尼日利亚港口，为期10天。

7月13日尼日利亚政府网站发布声明称，尼日利亚港务局（NPA）在暂停对马士基航运、中远海运航运等四家航运公司服务之前，管理当局已进行过例行检查，结果这四家航运公司未能遵守2017年11月由尼日利亚港口管理局（NPA）、航运公司和码头运营商之间达成的一项集装箱堆存场地运营的管理规定，“因为他们根本没有合理使用，或者说没有足够操作能力处理他们堆存场地所拥有的大量集装箱”。

NPA指出，同时发现一些航运公司进口的集装箱数量远大于出口的空箱，从而使该国成为空箱的倾倒场。“这些行为导致了拉各斯港口及周围的持续拥堵，甚至蔓延到拉各斯这座城市的其他地方。同时此次制裁也是做为解决Lagos Port Complex (LPC) 和Tin Can Island Port (TCIP)卡车司机抗议和罢工的一项举措。 

注：拉各斯港口有两个大型深水码头——阿帕帕和廷坎岛，约30个泊位，可以停泊万吨轮船，装卸和运输设备现代化，担负着尼日利亚每年进出口货物运输量的70～80%。

船公司不遵守港口管理当局的规定是导致港口拥堵的一个主要原因，由于对港口物流和交通堵塞等不满因素，上周当地拖车司机已举行了罢工!

该声明还强调，在对以上四家航运公司暂停提供码头停靠服务期间，管理局（NPA）将继续对船公司及码头运营商的经营情况进行定期的合规合法检查，并强调任何违规的船公司都将受到惩罚、制裁。

NPA SANCTIONS MAERSKLINE AND THREE OTHER SHIPPING LINES

As part of efforts to resolve the protest by truck drivers at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) and the Tin Can Island Port (TCIP) Lagos, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has announced a ten-day suspension of the services of four Shipping Companies, in the first instance.

The affected Shipping Companies whose suspension takes effect from Saturday, July 14th, 2018 are Maerskline, Cosco Shipping, APS and Lansal.

At the expiration of this suspension, the Authority will review the level of their compliance to its directives.

It could be recalled that in November, 2017, an agreement was reached between the NPA, Shipping Companies and Terminal Operators on the provision of holding bays for their containers through the newly adopted Call-Up system for trucks.

The suspension of the four Shipping Companies, follows the Authority’s checks which revealed that they have failed to comply with the directive to acquire and operate holding bays as they have either failed to utilize their holding bays at all or do not have adequate capacity to handle the volume of containers that they deal with.

Some of these companies have also been found to import a larger number of containers than empty containers exported thereby making the country a dumping ground for empties.

These conducts have contributed to the persistent congestion around the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) and the Tin Can Island Port (TCIP), spreading to other parts of the Lagos metropolis where truck drivers with no immediate business at the ports now park their trucks on the express roads.

Stakeholders have agreed that while the Call-Up system through the ports management, as advised by shipping companies will remain in force, personnel of the Nigerian Navy will discontinue the issuance of call ups, even though they will remain on the traffic management team.

In a related vain, the NPA Management reiterated that the planned introduction of a new service charge called “Empty positioning fee” by shipping lines is illegal and should not be honoured by any operator.

Meanwhile, the NPA Management had said that henceforth, it would be embarking on regular compliance checks of the operations of holding bays by shipping companies and terminal operators and stressed that defaulters would be sanctioned.

The Management expressed gratitude to all stakeholders for their cooperation and understanding over the perennial traffic congestion along the Apapa and Tin Can Island axis and efforts to find a lasting solution to the problem.