(5) RATIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OP THE CODE OP CONDUCT POE LINER CONFERENCES

The fiinisterial Conference has, at its linaugural meeting in

1975

called on all member states, who have not yet done so, to ratify the convention, most of the states have already ratified.

In its implementation, the Ministerial Conference has^ called

<«

for an ”a priori” control of cargo in the region. In this direction the conference adopted resolution 49/5/Sl in

198

of which the main element refers to the setting up of govern­ ment operated Central Freight Bureau or the appointment of national Shippers' Councils as unique govern^ment agencies to carry out the above fxmctions; the opening or the appointment of branches/agencies at the Northern end of the trade, empower­ ed to oversee the choice of the flag to conform to the cargo sharing principles.

Following this resolution in 1981, the permanent Secretariat convened a special meeting for the creation of a regional Bureau responsible for a priori control of cargo. This committee held its first meeting in Lome in February/March, 1982 and preliminary work being done involve appraisal of the working of existing machineries set up in the various member countries to implement cargo sharing.

As at now national freight bureaux are in operation in seven countries in the region. These are Ivory Coast, Cameroon,

Senegal, Gabon, Togo, Zaire, and Benin.

Technically the freight booking bureau acts as broker/agent for both Shippers and Shipowners. Its business is conducted in the following manner:

a Shipowner either through an agent or directly reports the availability of his vessels to the bureau for the purpose of obtaining cargo for his vessel. Likewise, Shippers report the availability of their cargo to the bureau through an agent or directly with the purpose of* finding a suitable vessel for its carriage. The bureau collects and keeps up-to-date information on the move­ ment of the carriers participating in the trade and the percentage of trade being carried by them. It also has first class intelligence on commodity flows and ships availability. On the basis of this information and through an effective commtinication system, the bureau alloroates the available cargo to the carriers to conform to the cargo sharing principles and to other accepted principles.

There are however, various operational approaches adopted by those countries of West/Central Africa which have already established cargo sharing systems. Notable among the systems are the Ivorian and the Cameroonian systems.

Tinder the Ivorian system, cargo sharing is administered by two centralised organizations viz:

(i) the Ivorian Shippers' Council which compiles informa­ tion, consolidate and allocate cargo to all recognised

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shipping lines serving the Ivorian seaborne trade (ii) a multi^ national (forwarding) compfiny (SISA) jointly

owned by the Ivorian national line and other shipping companies (mainly members of COWAC and HEWAC) serving the Ivorian seaborne trade. This company is responsible for the physical sharing/handling of the cargo at the various ports.

The Ivorian system has been working for sometime now and has gained for the Ivorian national line, SITRAM a fair share of the carriage of national cargo.

The Cameroon system is less comprehensive although by no means less versatile compared to the Ivorian system. This system involves the use of the national line/j (CAMSHIP) agents in the various ports both local and abroad, to book and consolidate national cargoes with first offtfor priority to the national line. Unless otherwise stated all Cameroonian imports are on FOB basis and exports CIP, Visas are required in cases where a shipper wants to use a foreign line; this is to ensure that there is ample justification for not using a national line. Any shipper who contravenes this visa rule pays a handsome penalty.

The Cameroonian system although vv^kemently criticised by liner conferences as discriminatory, has helped to turn CAMSHIP into one of the most viable national lines on the West/Central African Shipping range with very high carriage performance.

countries fall into two categories:

(a) post-shipment cargo control, when the main objective is the monitoring of cargo percentage carried by the national lines;

(b) pre— shipment cargo control, when the main objective is the allocation of cargo to the national lines.

Both types of control are carried out by National Shippers' Coun­ cils or Central Freight Bureaux, and also through representatives of these organizations appointed in the ports of trading p^tners. It is essentially the pre-shipment cargo control that contain elements unacceptable to the trading partners of Western Europe, The following arguments have been advanced against the establish­ ment and operation of National Freight Bureaux:

(i) The agencies of the Bureaux apply the cargo sharing prdv±a$6nr to the totality of the Trade moved to and from these countries. This fact alone is considered the most dangerous threat to the principle of free competition on fair commercial basis.

(ii) For the shippers, it restricts their freedom of choice of the carrier and this measure is often accompanied by the imposition on the shipper of the port of loading,

(iii) For the shipping agents, it means an important set­ back since the appointment of an agent as single booking office for a given trade, takes away

hope for the other shipping agents fo' handle busi­ ness in that trade, thus creating a monopoly situa­

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(iv) For the shippiag lines, in addition to the economic