The Mediterranean Shipping Company MSC Nigeria, says it shipped over 40, 000 twenty equivalent units TEUs of Nigeria’s non-oil exports in the last 12 months. These exports comprise mostly of agricultural produce including cocoa, sesame seeds, ginger and soya beans, among several others.

Deputy Managing Director of the company, Jacob Iosso, made the disclosure while making a presentation on: “The operating environment: Commercial terms and phrases used by shipping companies/lines in Nigeria” at a one-day training workshop organised by the Nigeria Customs Service for maritime journalists in Lagos, Friday with the theme: “Commercial terms and phrases used in Nigeria’s maritime industry”.

He observed that many of the reforms to boost the country’s non-oil exports are beginning to yield results as indicated in rising export figures. He further noted that though the full details are not yet available, there are very strong indications that the current figures are higher than those of the previous year.

“We’re the no. 1 shipping line in Nigeria in terms of shipment of export cargo, and so I can tell you that there has been a significant increase in Nigeria’s non-oil export volumes, especially in the last 12 months”, the DMD said.

He commended the federal government for all the reforms and new initiatives introduced over time to boost the nation’s non-oil exports.

Iosso, who fielded questions from journalists in the course of his presentation, took out time to address the contentious issue of refund of container deposits. He noted that there are global standards and procedures on the state and time duration within which the container must be returned after taking delivery of the shipment.  

He assured that any importer of his agent, who returns the empty container within the prescribed free-rent period and in the right condition without damage will get his or her deposit in full and vice versa.

The MSC Nigeria deputy-boss also disclosed that most importers and agents maintain accounts with the shipping lines where the container deposit refund is paid into. He however admitted that delays arise when the transaction involves new importers or agents, who do not maintain any accounts with the shipping line.