The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has fingered a shipping company; CMA-CGM as the cause of the constant traffic gridlock on access roads leading to the Apapa and the Tin Can Island ports.
According to ANLCA, the shipping company does not have a holding bay for its containers and this has led to trucks queuing up with empty containers on port access roads.
In a recent statement signed by ANLCA National Publicity Secretary; Kayode Farinto and sent to Shipping Position Daily, the association has advised importers to boycott CMA CGM.
He said "It has come to our notice that, CMA-CGM shipping company is the cause of the gridlock presently being experienced at the Apapa seaport axis and its environs"
"The reason been that CMA-CGM shipping company does not have a terminal of their own to receive empty containers and as such it has resulted in high transportation cost, for example a destination that goes for N30,000 is now N170,000"
"We have advised all our importers to stop patronizing CMA-CGM shipping company till further notice"
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) had recently fingered terminal operator; APM Terminals as the cause of the Apapa traffic.
The union threatened to move against port concessionare; APM Termina over the blockage of the Apapa port by trucks bearing empty containers and seeking access into the terminal.
In a statement issued in Lagos and signed by its Deputy Secretary General, Edwin Sambo, the union gave APM Terminals, a 14 day ultimatum to free the port access roads leading to the premier ports.
He said the union was deeply concerned and disturbed by truck drivers blockage of the roads in quest to deliver empty containers at the terminal.
He lamented that as a result of the blockage of the port access road, workers, Port users and the public in general trek long distance for hours before accessing the Port and their work place.
The union said that the blockage also impedes the Federal Government Executive order of doing business with ease at the Nation’s Seaports.
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