By Ragan M. Conteh

Hon. Bashiru Silikie, the  Deputy leader of Parliament,  has warned all shipping lines in the country to “stop collecting demurrage charges for a period of ten working days” excluding holidays and weekends.

“After today, we will be looking at your finances, manifests and other documents that are against the law.

“Let it be on record as of today, no shipping line must ask for  demurrage for a period not  lesser than ten days exclusive of weekends and public holidays,” Hon. Bashiru said.

While the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Aviation  were engaging the shipping Companies, Hon. Silikie further ordered all shipping lines to present their manifest from January 1, to July 31st , 2024 including statements to Parliament for further scrutiny on or before Wednesday 21st August 2024 with the aim to o reconcile illegal monies collected for the past eight months as per law.

“Assemble your finances, bank statements,  we will not tolerate any compromises,” he informed shipping lines in Parliament.

The shipping lines include Maersk, Mediterranean shipping company, Grimaldi and among others.

According to the deputy leader, Hon. Bashiru shipping lines have been asking for an exorbitant amount of money from citizens, adding that some companies are collecting 20$ per-twenty feet container instead of  the normal price of $15 and that they are also collecting $40 instead of $30 per-forty feet container, adding that others have added about thirty to forty (30-40%) above what is expected to be collected from importers.

For his part, Hon. Ambrose Maada Lebbie the Committee chairman, said a copy of the ruling will be available to the commissioners of the National Revenue Authority (NRA) and to the office of the president.

Reacting to the ruling of the Deputy Leader of Government Business against the shipping lines, Mohamed Andrew Sallia, President of the Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agencies in Sierra Leone (ACFA-SL) said the action of Parliament was a victory for the country while thanking the Lawmakers for their swift decision and all defaulting companies must “repay all what they have illegally collected.”