Exporters of cashew have blamed shipping companies for the increasing incidence of rejected cashew abroad while the shipping companies have in turn said the exporters are not entirely blameless.
The issue was raised at a stakeholders’ forum where members of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria met with operators of leading shipping companies in Nigeria to address issues of delays and rejected cashew exports.
Speaking during the forum, the President, NCAN, Mr. Tola Faseru, urged the shipping companies to reduce the transit time for shipping cashew from Nigeria, adding that the time should be set at a maximum of 30 days.
He accused shipping companies of sometimes keeping the product inside containers for as long as 120 days, noting that such length of time could damage cashew given its fragile nature.
Faseru said, “Most of the shipping companies don’t even understand. They just treat cashew as one of those commodities. It is a sensitive commodity that should not stay in a container for too long.
“Shipping companies should help us improve the transit time so that instead of the commodity taking several months to get to its destination, the transit time will be shortened. We want that transit time to be reduced to 30 days.”
He added, “The moment the container stays beyond 30 days, we will send a lawyer and the shipping company involved will pay 100 per cent cost.
“You know how it is when a commodity gets back here in a bad state. There are claims that come back to the exporters. This past year there were huge claims that were given to the customers. When the product is damaged, the exporter suffers huge losses.”
In their defence, some of the shipping companies represented at the forum blamed the situation on exporters and terminal operators, falsified and inaccurate information from exporters and delays caused by Lagos traffic when products were being moved to the ports.
The General Manager, Pacific International Lines, Mr. Verhaert Mathias, called for a look at the entire supply chain instead of putting the blame on the shipping companies.
According to him, 2015 was a difficult year for shipping companies because of the slide in oil price.
He said, “Ships were not full anymore and some even pulled out and stopped doing business because if they did not pull out, they would sail empty and incur losses.”
He urged exporters to pay attention to packaging details, adding that they should also be transparent about the real volume of the product they were sending out.
The General Manager of Hull Blyth shipping agency, Paul Brethel, remarked that weather differences in countries other than Nigeria affected the quality of cashew when the product was taken to those countries.
He said, “When you move a steel box from a warm climate to a cold one, condensation sets in. When there is warm season in Nigeria, there is winter in South Africa and Nigeria’s product has certain vices, so exporters cannot turn around and say it is the fault of shipping companies.”
Also speaking, the South Main Export Manager for Maersk Line, Maureen Okojie, said the decision on what went out was based on imports, adding that because imports nosedived in 2015, it had ripple effects on exports.
She emphasised transparency on the part of the exporters, stressing that shipping lines needed to know if they kept dedicated products and the length of time it would be delivered.
Okojie added, “The issue of transparency should cut across and NCAN should tackle fumigation because some government agencies go about with fictitious documents passing the bills to the shipping companies, claiming to have fumigated products that have already been fumigated by exporters.”
Some of the shipping agencies blamed terminal operators who had programmed for imports instead of exports.
ARCHITECT OF OWN PAINFUL PAIN
ReplyDeleteHuman beings are the mastermind of their own mind blowing myriads and miserable missfurtunes. Human beings know those things that are good but prefer to do otherwise and when they do that, it will invite a multiplied calamities. For instance when leaders are elected into a position to take care of the common wealth of a nation, instead of doing that, they will conner it into their private pockets and begin to pummel those they suppose to pay their allegiance. When this is the case, it will quickly give birth to internal crises then the leader due to power and egocentrism will sit in his comfort zone and begin to claim a hero that he is not, feeling untouchable until the problem escalates. Those who feel that they are unduly deprived, will lay their blood to ensure that they get back to they that humiliated them. It is at this period that the pregnant evil day will purge her stomach of its unnumbered little brats against the State and they will take the entire system like a wild fire. An ugly situation of this nature can lead to intertribal, interethnic, civil or even world war. At this point, that same resources that would have been judiciously used will further be spent unjustifiably in trying to quench the fire that has been unreasonably and irrationally ignited by the recalcitrant, spoilt and flamboyant public office holders. As we are aware to do the right thing is much more important than to handle a problem that emanates there from as a result of negligence on the part of leaders. The scripture enlightened us that Saul made a heavy payment for negligence of orders, having known what Saul had brought upon himself and his people, Samuel then made this statement "Obedience is better than sacrifice". To create avoidable problems and think it will be easily averted is easier said than done if not, boko haram insurgency would have long been combated. Libya, Syria, Iraq etc are in caios and economic comatose today as a result of man made problems. Man since has been an agent of destruction not just to himself but to his environment on a larger scale.
MAN IS THE ENEMY
OF OWN SELF!
MAN IS THE CREATOR
OF OWN DESTRUCTION!
MAN IS THE PILLAR
OF OWN DOOM!
MAN HAS GONE SOPHISTICATED
IN ANNIHILATION OF OWN SELF!
MAN ACTUALLY IS THE ARCHITECT
OF OWN PAINFUL PAINS!