The United States Government has initiated a strong lobby for a global vetting scheme for international cargo tagged the “trusted shipper” program, as part of a wider effort to check the shipment of bombs and deadly devices through air and sea ports. Homeland Security Secretary, Ms Janet Napolitano in London at the weekend explained that the scheme entails creating a list of pre-vetted cargo companies whose goods would be subject to fewer checks, while those outside the program could expect "much more intensive inspection.The new pre-shipment security scheme is a response to last year's attempt to air frieght powerful bombs inside printers and shipped them aboard cargo planes to addresses in Chicago late last year. The plot was only narrowly thwarted when authorities, alerted by intelligence, discovered the bombs while they were still in transit. <Read more>

TINCAN ISLAND PORT RECORDS ANOTHER COCAINE SEIZURE
For the second time within a month, another huge consignment of cocaine was uncovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) working together with Nigeria Customs Service officers at the Tin Can Island Port in Apapa, Nigeria’s second major seaport. With an estimated street value of N1.6billion (about $12million), the drug weighing about 167kg was neatly packed in 150 parcels, inside 38 cartoons of floor tiles, shipped from Bolivia.. <Read more>

ECOWAS TARGETS 40% INTRA-REGIONAL TRADE BY 2030
The ECOWAS Commission said it is targeting an increase in trade between West Africa countries from the currently low level of 4% to 40% by 2030 with 50% share of the region's trade in manufactured goods and services. The target is part of a recently adopted 20 year action plan [2010-2030] known as West Africa Common Industrial Policy [WACIP] by the ECOWAS Commission. The Commission also targets a progressive increase in the manufacturing industry's contribution to the regional GDP from current average of 6-7% to over 20% by 2030, as well as increase in export of finished and semi-finished goods from the region to the global market from the current 0.1% to 1% by 2030. <Read more>

2010 PIRACY REPORT: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER
Pirates murdered eight seafarers and seized a record 1181 hostages as well 53 ships last year, according to figures released by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in its annual piracy report. Four ships have been hijacked this year already, all of the coast of Somalia. Pottengul Mukundan, director of the IMB’s piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, says the number of hostages and vessels captured last year is “the highest we have ever seen” since the centre began monitoring attacks in 1991. “The continued increase in these numbers is alarming,” he said. <Read more>

ANOTHER COCAINE CONSIGNMENT INTERCEPTED AT LAGOS PORT
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) uncovered a large consignment of untreated cocaine hidden inside packs of floor tiles at Nigeria’s second busiest port, Tin Can Island Port in Lagos. The consignment is believed to have been shipped from Bolivia. The agency’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Ofoyeju Mitchell, in a press release explained that the illicit package was discovered during physical examination of a 20 TEU container on Thursday evening. The agency said a total of 100 parcels weighing 110kg with an estimated street value of N1.1 billion were found in the container.<Read more>

REP. OF BENIN SUSPENDS NEW IMPORT TAX REGIME
Following repeated strikes by trade unions and truck owners, the Government of the Republic of Benin has suspended the implementation of the recent hike of import tax on goods landed at the country’s main port of Cotonou. A directive issued by Benin Customs Service at the end of November 2010, announced a new import tax regime targeted at seven items. Hitherto the duty payable was 0.25% of the FOB value; however this was raised to about 45% of the FOB value, whether the cargo is in transit or not.<Read more>