Cargo clearing activities have resumed at the cargo section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
Clearings agents under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) had recently embarked on strike to press home their demand for demurrage waiver by the airport’s ground handling companies – the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO Aviance) and Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SACHO).
The agents demanded 100 per cent waiver of demurrage during the lockdown period occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The suspension of the strike was announced after both ground handling companies announced 80 percent waiver on all consignments that arrived their warehouses during the lockdown.
“This gesture serves as an interim measure pending the ongoing negotiation for 100 percent demurrage waiver from the Federal Government to the handling companies. Once this is approved, we will get back to the union. Kindly see this as a measure of goodwill to our customers and a means of ameliorating the harsh economic condition being experienced by Nigerians,” a letter signed by the Cargo Services Manager of NAHCO, Fasuyi Olufemi, reads in part.
ANLCA National President, Tony Iju Nwabunike, told SHIPS & PORTS that based on the partial waiver granted by the companies, members of the association have been asked to return to work.