Stakeholders seek intervention against port call-up system racketeering

Stakeholders in the maritime industry have advocated a policy that would ensure that terminal delivery orders (TDOs) are linked to the electronic call-up tickets to address the racketeering creating bottlenecks in the movement of cargoes in and out of seaports.

TDO is a final document authorising the release of consignments to a named party by the carrier, while the electronic call-up ticket is a pass document obtained by truck drivers to lift cargoes from the ports.

The stakeholders, who had expressed concerns over complaints emanating from the electronic call-up ticket sales, blamed clearing agents who allegedly sold a TDO to multiple truckers.

The stakeholders made the position at a breakfast meeting on an electronic call-up system organised by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in Lagos.

The Director of Operations Performance Office of Trucks Transit Parks (TTP) Limited, Adekunle Ojo, accused clearing agents of manipulating the system.

According to him, most clearing agents duplicate their TDOs and give different copies to truckers, in the hope of getting a better and favourable price.
Ojo said the action encourages some of the truckers to fake the ticket and cut corners to beat time and reduce price.

He said linking TDOs to the electronic call-up ticket was the only way out of the challenges experienced in the system.
Ojo also said that as part of efforts to automate the electronic call-up system, the company has made a requisition for the introduction of e-tag, which is awaiting the approval of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

The President of the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN) said the call-up system has been fraught with irregularities and corruption.

To eliminate the challenges, he said, NPA and TTP should ensure that each truck coming out of the parks is linked with a particular TDO and container number.
Olumekun said, with this, truck drivers would no longer manipulate the process.
He also said those who do not have anything to do with cargo should not be allowed to interfere with cargo delivery.

Olumekun advised that to bring sanity to the port access road, especially under the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, cargo movement must be done by barges.

Also speaking, a member of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council, (NPCC), Peace Effiong, suggested that TDOs should be issued to trucks at the pre-gate stage and not at the gate, insisting that that would stem the tide of ticket switching that frustrates the gains of the call-up system.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said the electronic call-up system has contributed to a reduction in gridlock along the ports corridor.

Bello-Koko who was represented by the General Manager of the MD’s Office, Ayodele Durowaiye, argued that the adoption of the electronic call-up system has also reduced the turn-around time for trucks from 15-17 days to two days.