A chieftain of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr. Ugochukwu Nnadi, has advised the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to go into partnership with the Nigerian Army and truckers in other to use a parcel of land at the Army barracks in Mile 2 as a truck transit park for trucks coming into Lagos pots.
Nnadi also disclosed that the space at the barracks can contain as much trucks as possible, even as he said that some parts of Orile Local Government Secretariat could also be used as a truck park.
He suggested that the arrangement will take traffic off the ever-busy Mile 2 to Tin Can portion of the Oshodi Apapa expressway.
Nnadi who said this in an interview with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week also said using the Lillypond facility as Truck Park can not ease traffic.
He told our correspondent that: “If you go to Mile 2 barracks (at the back), you will see that they have started using part of it as terminal and it is very big. The NPA can go into partnership with the Army and the truckers to develop that place, because the place can accommodate as many trucks as they need. They should also be using Orile local government secretariat as truck park too, because letting them (trucks) come into Lilypond which is also in Apapa, they will be congesting those places”
He also advised that Lilypond terminal should be used for overtime cargoes, stressing that the place is big enough for that purpose.
“Lilypond is not too small for overtime cargo; it is a very big place that no matter the quantity of the overtime cargoes there, they will be accommodated there”, he added.
Drawing inference to the Ikorodu overtime cargo terminal, Nnadi said the Lilypond facility is as big as the facility currently being used at Ikorodu. Do you think that Lilypond is not up to Ikorodu terminal and now the problem they are having at Ikorodu is congestion, because there is no space”.
“Lilypond should be where terminal operators will transfer over time cargoes and any truck going there is going to pick already released over time cargo”, he explained.
“Then Lilypond that is now truck terminal should now be converted to government warehouse were overtime cargoes will be attended to because it will now be very close to the ports”
“The shipping companies will not have any excuse while they should not transfer overtime cargo to that place”, he stressed.
Explaining further, he said that Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) and Ikorodu Terminal should be designated for empty containers alone.
“I am suggesting that Krikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) and Ikorodu terminal should be designated for empty containers only, once you take your delivery from the ports you don’t need to return the empty to the ports, you either take the empty to KLT or Ikorodu terminal”, he suggested.
Nnadi also harped n the need for terminal operators to make use of badges in transferring the empty containers to their terminals just to reduce congestions on the roads.
“The shipping companies should now use badges to transport them from those places to the terminals, even exports should be taken to those places. No shipping company should be allowed to bring their empties to the ports” he concluded.
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