Maritime

INDIGENOUS and foreign ship owners have continued to loose revenue due the approach adopted Judges of the Federal High Court in presiding over matters related to maritime, the Managing Director Dana and Associates Mr. Dania Tony has said.
The remark of Tony is coming against the backdrop of the fact that when there is a dispute between two parties the process of settling dispute is started by arrest of vessel/aircraft or goods through application of expartie motion even though it was not put on notice.

•Government should embark on capital dredging of the channels to a depth of at least 10 meters.
•Due to the high level of siltation a company should be appointed to handle the maintenance dredging of the Calabar port.
•The bidding process for dredging the port should be competitive.
•Access road to the port should be dualized.
•The Nigerian Ports Authority should adopt a deliberate policy that low draft vessels must berth at the Calabar port.
•Nigerian Ports Authority should also waive payment for Pilotage so as to serve as an incentive to attract importers.
•Cross Rivers State government should show commitment to the dredging of the Calabar. port.

THE federal government has declared that there is no moral justification for the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to compel port concessionaires to reduce terminal charges when it has not fulfilled its own part of the concession agreement.
Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman, expressed disappointment over the poor state of common user facilities at the ports, and that NPA has failed to fix the facilities as enshrined in the concession agreement signed by the concessionaires with the government. According to the Minister  the facilities should be provided before descending on concessionaires on reduction of charges.

AS part of its mandate to ensure effective Maritime Security as well as Search and Rescue, the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) recently commenced a- three day Long Range Identification and Tracking,  at the National Data Coordination Centres in Lagos.
The Three day Long Range Identification and Tracking is in compliance with regulation V-19- of the 1974 SOLAS Convention relating to LRIT which entered into force on 1st January 2009.