Officers and representatives of the Agency at the Ports and Offshore facilities are charged with the following responsibilities:
Facilitate effective coordination and regulation of all Maritime activities within the area;
Stop, enter, board, inspect and search and or detain any vessel within the Nigerian maritime zone through the deployment of Marine Inspectors/surveyors in accordance with section 218 of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007;
Inspect ships for the purposes of maritime safety, maritime security, maritime labour and prevention of maritime pollution;
Enforce the implementation of Maritime Safety Standards and Security, Maritime Labour regulations, shipping regulations, cabotage levies, pollution prevention and control amongst others in the marine environment;
Enhance efficiency and effectiveness in ports service delivery to stakeholders;
Enforce and administer the provisions of the Coastal and Inland shipping (CABOTAGE) Act;
Perform port and flag state duties;
Simplify and facilitate easier documentation processes for the shipping companies and agents;
Provide effective monitoring of vessels calls and cargoes in Nigerian seaports;
Facilitate search and rescue operations for vessels and seafarers in distress;
Ensure that the Agency’s revenue are duly collected, collated, and processed accordingly.
Owners/Agents of vessel calling at Nigerian Ports shall submit their manifest two weeks before expected date of arrival of the vessel. Thereafter a debit note is issued to the Agent/owner to facilitate payment within 24 hours of receipt of vessel manifest.
The Department will usually inspect the following documents to be submitted to it by the vessel owner or Agent:
The voyage order, stowage plan or manifest of the vessel in other to reconcile it with the import/export manifest forwarded by the Agent to NIMASA for the payment of the 3% levy;
Certificate of quantity for wet cargos and their haulage report;
Certificate of transfer, if any (where the cargo is transferred from one vessel to the other);
DPR permit to ensure the genuineness/quality of the cargo (this applies to wet Cargo only);
Any other document that facilitates the payment of the 3% levy.
Upon payment of 3% levy, NIMASA will at its Headquarters issue within 6 hours a sailing certificate to the vessel owner or Agent. This Department must not board the ship.
The Unit is responsible for implementing section 44 – 45 of the NIMASA Act on the prevention/control of marine pollution. It is also responsible for the implementation of domesticated international maritime conventions and national laws on marine environment.
This requires monitoring the following:
Oil discharge monitoring equipment to ensure proper disposal of waste. Where the Oil discharge equipment is malfunctioned, the vessel must apply and obtain an exemption from the Agency. Before such exemption is given, surveyors and engineers must inspect the vessel to ensure that the capacity of the storage tanks within the vessel is large enough to store waste until the vessel leaves Nigerian waters;
The functional capacity of Oil-Water Separator (OWS) to ensure compliance with 15PPM in a vessel in line with the provisions of the Marine Pollution Convention (MARPOL) and annexes thereof;
Inspection of relevant anti-pollution documents/certificates on board vessels to ensure compliance with relevant IMO conventions;
Monitoring to ensure discharge of waste into reception facilities;
In the event of a spillage, the shipmaster is expected to report the incident to the Agency within 24 hours. The responsible officers in the unit are to ensure the following:
Investigating the cause, determining the magnitude and extent of damage done to the marine environment as a result of an established spillage. Deploy response personnel and equipment to assist in cleanup operations with other government agencies where necessary in the case of a spillage;
Undertake the coordination of compensation of victims of oil pollution damage from ships in line with IOPC fund convention;
Inspect tank washing process and facilities to ensure that dangerous/poisonous chemicals are not discharged into Nigerian waters.
This involves document and related checks on vessels on berth to ascertain their seaworthiness in line with IMO guidelines on Port state and Flag state inspection.
Based the IMO Regional Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Ports State Control, referred to as the Abuja MoU, which gives powers to the Port States to enforce Safety Standards and control of Marine pollution, NIMASA to work with Port State Control Inspectors of Ships on Abuja MoU for the discharge of this function.
The above functions shall be carried out by the Inspectors of Ships when the Vessel has “settled” and cover no less than 35% of ships berthing. The exercise shall last no more than 3 hours. The Inspectors shall not unnecessarily detain or delay a ship from carrying out discharge operations or from proceeding on any voyage except it is absolutely necessary and consequent upon established non-compliance with the related Laws.
The Inspectors shall issue their report to the Ship Development Unit of NIMASA for the purposes of issuance of sailing certificate no later than 1 hour from the expiration of their 3 hours work time line.
The department ensures routine inspections/survey of ships at ports in compliance with port and flag state responsibilities. The unit will oversea the implementation of the ISPS code and related maritime safety conventions and protocols enshrined under the Merchant Shipping Act 2007 and the NIMASA Act. This involves routine surveys at terminals and jetties to ascertain the safety and security of the terminals/jetties. They specifically monitor the following:
Access control for the entry and exit of persons
Health and safety policies at the terminal/jetty
Examine records of security drills conducted
Security signage/sign posts
Lightings/illuminations especially at the quay sides
Access restrictions to generator power houses and fuel storage
Surveillance facilities
Physical visits to various terminals, jetties for safety awareness campaign to educate stakeholders and operators on safety requirements
Carry out security facilities audit and approval in accordance with the ISPS code
Carry out ship safety/security audit for flag vessels at ports in accordance to IMO guidelines
Mercantile marine duties, which include verification of article of agreement for flag vessels as well as verification of seafarers documents (where can the list of documents be found?) upon arrival of the vessel.
For vessels/ships, the Inspector of Ships on behalf of NIMASA inspects the following:
The condition of the ship/vessel, its machinery, equipment and general suitability of the vessel on Nigerian waters;
Manning of the vessel and other matters relevant to the safety and security of the ship.
This involves document and related checks on vessels on berth to ascertain their seaworthiness in line with IMO guidelines on Port state and Flag state inspection.
Based the IMO Regional Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Ports State Control, referred to as the Abuja MoU, which gives powers to the Port States to enforce Safety Standards and control of Marine pollution, NIMASA to work with the Port State Control Inspectors of Ships on Abuja MoU for the discharge of this function.
The above functions will be carried out by the Inspectors of Ships when the Vessel has “settled” and cover no less than 35% of Ships berthing at the Ports. The exercise will last no more than 3 hours in each case. The Inspectors shall not unnecessarily detain or delay a ship from carrying out discharge operations or from proceeding on any voyage except it is absolutely necessary and consequent upon established non-compliance with related Laws and International Conventions.
The Inspectors shall issue a report to the Ship Development Unit of NIMASA for the purposes of issuance of sailing certificate no later than 1 hour from the expiration of their 3 hours work time line.
Where any vessel does not fulfill the three conditions on ownership, manning, and building, such vessel must apply and pay for waivers in accordance with the procedure set out in the Guidelines on Implementation of Coastal and Inland Shipping (CABOTAGE) Act, 2007 before engaging in any Cabotage Trade in Nigerian waters. The waiver certificate must be renewed annually.
Foreign owned vessels must in addition to applying for waivers, apply for and obtain a license to engage in Cabotage trade in accordance with section 15-18 of the Cabotage Act.
By virtue of sections 22 and 29 of the Cabotage Act, every vessel engaged in Cabotage Trade must be registered with the Cabotage department of the Agency (application form can be obtained from the Cabotage Department of the Agency and a checklist of documents that must be attached to the application). Vessels already registered in the Nigerian Ship registry must also be registered in the Cabotage register.
Section 42 and 43 of the Cabotage Act provides for the collection of 2% surcharge based on gross earnings on contracts performed by all vessels engaged in domestic coastal trade. It is mandatory for all employers or chatterers of such vessels to deduct the said 2% surcharge from source based on the charter or freight invoice. The freight invoice, bill of lading or schedule must be forwarded to the Cabotage Department and a demand note for payment of the 2% surcharge issued to make payment to the Finance department of the Agency.
Vessels/ship engaged in Cabotage trade must carry on board at all times the following:
Cabotage registration certificate
Waiver certificate
Vessel registration certificate
Crew list
Enforcement officers from the Cabotage department carry out routine checks based on selected sample of vessels/ships trading in Nigerian Coastal Waters to inspect them for compliance to the above stated requirements. This process does not extend to sea going vessels calling at Nigerian Ports.
Based the IMO Regional Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Ports State Control, referred to as the Abuja MOU, which gives powers to the Port States to enforce Safety Standards and control of Marine pollution, NIMASA delegates the discharge of this aspect of their functions to the Port State Control Inspector of Ships.
The above functions shall be carried out by the Inspectors of Ships and cover such sample of ships on the coastal waters as NIMASA may from time to time indicate. The exercise shall last no more than 1 hour in each case. The Inspectors shall not unnecessarily detain or delay a ship from proceeding on any voyage except it is absolutely necessary and consequent upon established non-compliance with the related Laws.
The Inspectors shall issue a report to the Cabotage Unit of NIMASA no later than 1 day from the end of each vessel Inspection.
that maritime Labour employers comply with existing regulations and standards relating to crewing, wages, safety, welfare and training of seafarers and dock workers at Ports, jetties, terminals, offshore facilities and on board vessels;
The enforcement and administering of the provisions of the Cabotage Act 2003 with regard to manning of Cabotage vessels;
Implementation of seafarers and dock workers employment, safety and health standards in relation to provision of maritime Labour and in line with International Maritime Labour Convention and the International Labour Organisation Convention;
That ships plying Nigerian Waters carry Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance (DMLC) parts 1 and 2;
On board inspection by International Labour Organisation certified personnel in line with the inspection requirements for lag state and Port State.
