Aviation Ministry In Talks To Suspend Demurrage Charges At Airports – Sirika

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said the ministry is in talks with the ground handlers and the Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) to negotiate a month or two concession on demurrage charges in Nigeria’s airports.

The two major aviation cargo handling companies, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc and the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc, have insisted on the mandatory payment of demurrage for delays in clearance of goods imported into the country during the Coronavirus lockdown, an action which sparked a  protest by the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMIA), Lagos Chapter.

“Cargo agents are asking for 100 per cent waiver on storage, their demand is based on the premise that an agency of government, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is taking on the financial burden of the 100 per cent waiver at the seaports and issuing credit notes to Port Terminal Operators,” the handlers said in an earlier statement.

Sirika on Friday during the presidential task force briefing on the COVID- 19, said that the ministry was in talks for a possible waiver on demurrage as the country is faced with lockdown.

“The demurrage charges at our airports are paid directly to the two major ground handlers SAHCO and NAHCO. There have been  discussions with them. The money is neither paid to the Federal Airport Authority ( FAAN ) nor the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) , it is paid to concessionaires who are at the airport. While discussing with these companies, we are also consulting the Airport Authority to see what they are doing  at our airports, so that we have a refined way of addressing this issue; whether we are going to give them some concession of a month or two as the lockdown is on,” he said during the briefing.

Meanwhile,  SACHO and NAHCO said that the grievances should be directed to the appropriate authorities.

“This is not the case in aviation, as ground handling companies have not been informed by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) or Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) that government is giving any financial exchange for storage waiver in the aviation sector. We have shared this fact with the cargo agents and asked them to direct their protest appropriately.

“We are a responsible corporate organisation, employing over 2,200 Nigerian and affecting over 100,000 people in Nigeria directly and indirectly. COVID 19 has affected the aviation industry the most. Today, our industry is faced with revenue loss and cash crunch. Ground handling companies are critical aviation service providers and greatly affected.

“Our cost of operations has risen materially in light of the new safety measures in our operations and all the safety equipment, systems, PPE etc that we have put in place for our staff, customers and stakeholders,” the company said.