Clarion bonded terminal accuses compliance team of cheap blackmail 

The management of Clarion bonded terminals has insisted that the importers and agents of the 14 vehicles detained in the terminal must pay the assessment on the cars before they can be released.

The terminal owners also described the protest by 100 percent compliance team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) as cheap blackmail.

Recall that on Monday, the team picketed the terminal over claims that 19 containers belonging to members were lost in transit, accusing the terminal of culpability and that 14 cars of their members were detained after due payments have been made.

As a result, the 100 percent compliance team led members to protest at the gate of the terminal disrupting business operations at the facility in Lagos.

Speaking on the development, Barrister Chekwube Osonwa, the Company Secretary stated that the terminal owners are considering the option of litigation against the team for obstructing the right of others from carrying out their businesses saying the right of others begin where others stopped.

On the missing 19 missing containers, the Maritime lawyer said it was laughable to hear that 19 containers were missing for such a long time and the owners did not show up to make claims for their consignments.

According to Barr. Osonwa who doubles as the Director, Legal of Clarion, maintained that the owners of the imported cats must pay because their careless declaration was part of what led the company to pay a humongous sum of N118 million to Nigeria Customs Service for unpaid assessments.

His words, “I have told you now how we were held down for six months and a whole lot of intricacies and we paid because our business was almost destroyed

“That is a cheap blackmail because I cannot comment in any cheap blackmail from anybody that is not the only container in our terminal as we have hundreds of thousands of containers and we are working on them.

“Containers come in and go so if they are not cleared, let him come and explain now.

“Is there any correlation between this one and their liability?

“Are the containers lost or missing? Is the owner sleeping? If they say they can’t find it in Clarion, is Clarion the final destination? Clarion is a transit point, containers come and go after assessments are duly paid.

“Why is he bringing up this issue now when they are asked to go and pay for their careless declaration that caused us problem?

“He rented crowd that he paid some two thousand and some three thousand naira. Let me tell you, NAGAFF is not in this matter, the guy collected money from some people and is doing their bidding. He is using it to do cheap blackmail.”