By Alex Akao
Reprieve have come the way of importers and clearing agents in Lagos, following the granting of extension for the delivery order on goods which were caught in the web of the now suspended strike earlier embarked upon by dockworkers in Apapa ports.
The ‘grace’ offered to the importers was announced at the weekend by Maersk Line, the parent body of APM Terminals, for the affected traders and their agents to extend their delivery orders till Tuesday, July 26th, 2022, specifically for all shipments released between Monday July 18th and Thursday July 21st, while the three-day strike lasted.
Recall that the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) had last week embarked on strike which disrupted normal operations at the foremost terminal, following the inability of the parties to reach a truce on workers’ welfare.
Following the suspension of the three days warning strike, Maersk Line, announced through its customer advisory medium on Saturday July 23rd 2022, the reprieve for all the affected goods at the APMT Terminals, adding that terminal operations has commenced for all terminal activities.
The announcement indicated that “to mitigate the impact of the strike on your delivery plans, please be informed that Maersk would be extending delivery orders till Tuesday 26th July 2022, for all shipments released between Monday 18th July and Thursday 21st July 2022, and whose validity dates were from 20th to 22nd July 2022.
“The extension would be done automatically and revised delivery orders sent via email to the clearing agency for the shipments that fall in this category.
“Please approach the terminal to effect delivery within this validity period.
“Further, our Lagos Counter and telephone lines would be open tomorrow Saturday 23rd July 2022 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. And, there will be extended counter operation hours from Monday 25th July 2022”.
To this end, the company called on the concerned importers and their agents to avail themselves of the opportunity to approach its relevant counter for cargo release and export requests.