NAN-H-61
Chandlers
By Uche Eletuo
Lagos, Nov. 2, 2016 (NAN) Some ship chandlers on Wednesday said they were being confronted with low business, loss of jobs and sought Federal Government’s intervention to remedy the situation.
The chandeliers, who decry the impact of the economic recession, stated this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
NAN reports that a ship chandler is a retail dealer who specialises in supplies or equipment for ships
They said that their challenges ranged from economic recession, import prohibition, which forced some shippers to route their cargoes to ports in neighbouring countries.
A Client Officer with Allison Shipping Ltd, Mr Bernard Kalu, said that the diversion of ships from Nigerian ports to Lome and Cotonou ports was depriving them of jobs.
“Since the inception of the import ban and the unending economic recession, the whole thing has been inactive.
“Many of us are closing shops and a lot of us thrown into the labour market without prior preparations,’’ Kalu said.
According to him, our members scrabble for the little available jobs at paltry sum without recourse to the cost of executing them.
He said that with Federal Government’s intervention in the area of trade facilitation and by dismantling all official bottlenecks, shippers would come back to Nigerian ports.
A Manager with Red Line Logistics, Mrs Roda Briggs, said, “If the Federal Government wants to create jobs, chandling is a veritable avenue’’.
“The number of people earning their living in the sector before now are many.
“With the recession and its economic downturn, many have lost jobs that are hard to come by,’’ Briggs said.
She urged the regulators to create a robust business environment that would attract the shippers back to the ports. (NAN)
EUC/AJA
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(Edited by Adeleye Ajayi)