By Chigozie Daniel
Tension has escalated across Lagos ports as freight forwarders and customs agents resumed a coordinated withdrawal of services, insisting they were never invited to any meaningful dialogue over the controversial hike in shipping charges.
The protest, which resurfaced after over three months of stalled expectations, is directed at shipping companies accused of imposing what operators describe as arbitrary and illegal tariff increases, further straining an already fragile maritime ecosystem.
Contrary to claims by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), aggrieved agents maintained that no genuine engagement had taken place, dismissing assertions that they had resisted dialogue as “misleading and unfounded.”
Executive Secretary of the NSC, Dr. Pius Ukeyima Akutah, had during a media briefing urged protesters to embrace dialogue, describing it as a more effective and civilised dispute resolution mechanism than what he termed a “bottled anger approach.”
His remarks came amid heightened tension at the Lagos port corridor, where protesting agents picketed the offices of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), grounding activities and drawing attention to the deepening crisis.
Akutah warned that sustained industrial unrest could cripple port operations, disrupt trade flows, and ultimately inflict broader economic consequences on the nation, even as he condemned attempts to block regulatory access to affected facilities.
He further recalled that the Council had previously intervened during an earlier protest, compelling MSC to temporarily suspend the disputed charges to allow room for negotiations, while reiterating the agency’s commitment to restoring balance in the sector.
But leaders of the aggrieved agents have pushed back strongly. Key figures within the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) insisted that the so-called dialogue never materialised beyond a failed attempt.
National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Mr. Emmanuel Onyeme, revealed that the only invitation extended to the association, via a February 23, 2026 letter, ended abruptly when the scheduled meeting was cancelled due to the absence of the NSC boss.
Onyeme alleged that since then, neither the Council nor the shipping companies had made any effort to reconvene talks, accusing regulators of tacit alignment with operators allegedly exploiting Nigerian importers without improving service delivery.
Echoing similar sentiments, other ANLCA leaders described the recent call for dialogue as belated and insincere, noting that the Executive Secretary’s appearance at the protest venue after months of silence only deepened distrust among stakeholders.
The agents have vowed to sustain the protest until the charges are reversed to previous rates, insisting that any future engagement must begin with a rollback and be anchored on a transparent, properly convened stakeholders’ forum.
They further argued that while terminal operators often justify price adjustments through value-added services, shipping companies have failed to demonstrate any measurable improvements to warrant the current increases, thereby fuelling industry-wide resentment.