Transport and Customs Manager at Medecins Sans Frontieres

Main Purpose

• Defining, coordinating and monitoring all activities related to the clearing and the transport of medical and non-medical goods in the Mission according to MSF protocols, standards and procedures in order to ensure the optimal running of the Mission for all MSF sections present in Nigeria

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• In collaboration with the Logistics/ Supply Chain Coordinator, Deputy Supply Chain Coordinator, Supply Chain Team Leader defining the Transport and Customs related procedures and planning the annual budget for Transport and Customs activities in order to identify and optimize the response to the needs of the mission and the targeted population.
• Monitoring the implementation of the Transport and Customs related procedures ensuring compliance with MSF standards, protocols and procedures. This includes the Following :
• Ensuring the clearing of goods and managing relations and customs regulations with clearing/forwarding agents, government and transporters. Collecting market information and updates on transport related issues and advising the supply unit, coordination and other actors on customs regulations and constrains. Conducting field visits to ensure understanding and communication between different actors
• Planning and organizing transport with freight companies following and communicating all transport activities of the goods. Preparing assembles and monitoring the validity of all transport related documents (Freight Manifest, Release Notes, donation/gift certificate, packing list, invoice, etc.) and ensuring that signed transport documents are returned with signature. Organizing deliveries/transport to the field according to their priority in terms of needs and being in charge of loading and offloading of trucks, ensuring that an MSF representative is present
• Analysing and managing any claims with suppliers or clients and payments to be kept on hold. Advising the finance department on time
• Participating in the validation of freight companies and clearing agents and facilitating and following up duty and tax exemptions. Preparing transport contacts.
• Ensuring technical support and providing coaching to staff under his/her responsibility. Providing standardized/template transport documents and guidelines
• Preparing monthly report of indicators (figures, graphs and charts), providing quarterly analyses and participating in monthly Sitrep according to management guidelines
• Performing delegated tasks according to his /her specialty and as specified in his/her job description

MSF Section / Context-Specific Accountabilities

• Work with the rest of the Nigeria MSF customs staff to identify common customs redlines. What are those key contradictory aspects/redlines that happen at customs “sectional level” with “intersectional impact/ consequences” either directly or indirectly. The idea is to identify and agree at mission customs intersectional level on key aspects that ALL OC’s must agree on before 1 OC decides to ACT either jointly or as lead section.
• Identify Nigeria customs constraints, bottlenecks, opportunities that need to be discussed at Nigeria intersectional level and also regularly shared with other key focal persons. For example, regularly advise the ESC focal persons on which shipping lines, or ports to use or avoid based on changes in the contexts on a regular basis.
• Work in close collaboration with the Intersectional pharmacist (ISP), country advisor on customs aspects that have implications with those 2 roles and vice versa.
• Will be the Country Supply Profiling (CSP GeoApp) information management focal persons for Nigeria.
• Have regular update meetings with their counterparts at country level , ESC level and share information/ updates with the rest of the colleagues.
• Active context monitoring, mastering, follow-up, & sharing of customs aspects/ evolutions (changes regulations, risks, opportunities, constraints etc.) that may / could Impact overall supply chain.
• Act as IDEC (Importation and duty exemption certificate) focal person to create alignment of this process across different MSF sections?
• Work with the Intersectional Procurement manager to follow-up on the performance (KPI’s) of selected “MIFAT” forwarding agents by collecting performance feedback from his customs counterparts from the different MSF sections.
• Will be the intersectional Focal (liaison) persons (working with the Logco’s/ supplyco’s and intersectional Pharma) on SON certification-related aspects.
• Liaise with the Country representative when dealing with authorities like SON, Nigeria Customs Service etc.
• Support the Intersectional Pharmacist with the application for the annual letter of support from FMoH, by following-up with the sections’ LogCos/SupplyCos on the annual forecast for Logistics items and compiling the info from all sections. This will be done jointly with the ISP who will be responsible for compiling the medical items needs and submitting the request to FMoH on behalf of all sections.
• Join the Intersectional Pharmacist at meetings with authorities that require a cross-departmental representation from both Pharma and Supply departments.
• Briefing for the new Clearing agents on MSF requirements and documents. systematically provided and whichat are only subject to specific request). Also, in case of any new or change request from Clearing agents, to ensure that this info is routed to the right stakeholders (ISP, etc.)
• Briefing for expat Supply positions on customs processes, e.g. customs clearance, IDEC application, SON application etc.
• Nigeria Customs HS harmonization for all the 6 sections
• Implement and follow up of Key performance indicators for Transport and Customs for Nigeria in order to objectively track customs performance in Nigeria (Eg KPI’s linked to MIFAT).
• If needed, advise and support the various sections in setting up SOPs for customs clearance processes to ensure harmonization between the sections.
• Initiate unplanned intersectional Supply Customs meetings for all Nigerian sections in case of any urgent updates/issues With support of all SupplyCo / LogCo’s actively participate in meetings with local authorities (MoF, MoPH, Customs)
• Will be the focal person for all the ESC’s on transversal customs aspects related to Nigeria (APU, MSF log, MSF supply)
• Share the ESC information on regular basis on common aspects like;
• Existing negotiations with ESC forwarding agents / shipping lines on “demurrage free days”, Possibilities to help missions negotiate for “container deposit” waiver at ESC level, Key considerations for missions customs focal person’s to keep in mind, share visibility on transport / customs evolutions from ESC side that may have impact on mission Customs
• Works in close collaboration with ESCs to analyze the best routes and timings for shipments linked to Nigeria collaboration with the OC customs officers/ supervisors:
• Analyses the ports activities and capacities and help the decision for routings
• keep track of costs and timings, share the feedback to feed the joint analysis
• by centralizing the information, help building the opportunities for consolidations (intersection / interESC) and planning of shipments

Minimum Required Skills and Qualifications
Education:

• Degree / Master's Degree (Certification in clearing and forwarding or related field will be an asset)

Experience:

• Essential at least four years of working experience in related activities.
• Desirable previous experience with freight forwarding, Logistics or Supply Department or other NGOs, and working experience in national and regional freight / customs

Languages:

• Mission language and local language essential

Knowledge:

• Computer literacy, (LX, excel, email, word)

Competencies

• People Management and Development L2
• Commitment to MSF Participles L2
• Behavioural Flexibility L3
• Results and Quality Orientation L3
• Teamwork and Cooperation L3