The Executive Vice Chairman of ENL Consortium and Chairman of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) Princess Vicky Haastrup has called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to terminate the concession agreement of fellow terminal operator; Lillypond Container Terminal Limited and that the terminal should be converted into a holding bay for trucks.
Haastrup who was a panellist at the Taiwo Afolabi Annual Maritime (TAAM) Conference which held last weekend raised alarm that presently, vessels are trapped at various berths at the Apapa port because they cannot discharge their cargoes. She said that due to the bad condition of the access roads leading to the Tin Can Island Port and Apapa port, trucks cannot access the terminals.
Substantiating her call, she recalled that prior to the 2006 port concession exercise, Lillypond Terminal used to be a truck holding bay with capacity to handle 7,000 trucks but that currently, trucks have nowhere else to park.
She noted that 1000 trucks are trooping into Apapa port alone in their bid to load cargoes, but there are no good access roads. She added that terminal operators cannot function without the services of the trucks.
According to her, it is not the duty of terminal operators to provide holding bay for trucks, she said it is the responsibility of shipping companies but they have failed to do so.
She said "One area we expect investment from the government is the creation of holding bay for trucks"
"The access road to Tin Can Island Port and Apapa port is such a nightmare, right now there is no way to discharge ships, if you know what we are going through in the last one month, the ships are just seating there, we cannot just discharge the ships, it is only in Nigeria that things like that happen because the trucks cannot have access to the port"
"I wrote to the NPA AND one of the suggestions that I made was creation of holding bay for trucks, on daily basis we have about an average of 1000 trucks coming to Apapa port alone without Tin Can Port, they come from all over the country to Apapa alone, we have the tankers and container trucks, without these trucks we cannot operate and accessing the terminal by the transporters is such a nightmare because there are no holding bays"
"But as it were, the terminal operators do not have the responsibility to provide holding bays, it is a bit political but one of the things I said to my colleagues is that the shipping companies should do something about it"
"Lillypond before it was concessioned out to a company, it used to be am holding bay with capacity to handle 7,000 trucks, I think their concession is running out, after the concession runs out, the government should allow it go back to how it used to be"
Haastrup suggested that if converted into a holding bay, government can make huge revenue from Lillypond Terminal than the facility is currently generating.
She urged NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman to gather together stakeholders within the sector and engage them further to gather information on what they need to do.
Haastrup also lamented that terminal operators are always blamed for the high cost of doing business at the port while they only account for 1.8% of totality of port operators.
She argued that: "The customs is raising its tariff every year but nobody is looking at that, the NPA, shipping companies, NIMASA and Shippers Council do it every year but nobody talks about it"
"There has to be an enabling environment for us to work, the terminal operators have done their bit by developing the port, we have the equipment, we have the technical skill. But the location of the Apapa and Tin Can Island port does not give room for expansion the way it supposed to be"
"Apart from this, we have a lot of tank farms and pivate jetties, we have over 60 tank farms surrounding Tin Can Island Port and Apapa port, it is only in Nigeria that things like that happen, this are limitations against us improving" She said
Corroborating the STOAN Chairman in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, clearing agents lamented that currently there is scarcity and shortage of trucks to move cargoes out of the port.
Coordinator of Save Nigeria Importers Exporters and Freight Forwarders Coalition (SNIEFFC) Chief Osita Chukwu pointed out that all the trucks were all trapped on a long queue and could not access the port due to bad roads.
Currently we are having challenges of transportation and road network, some people have cleared their cargoes for weeks but they cannot move them out of the port because those that have been cleared cannot get out of the port, no vehicles to move cargoes, they are all queuing up with empty containers
"The terminal operators and shipping companies don't have holding bays, government should provide holding bays for them and let them pay, any container that stays more than a day should be taken to the government holding bay and they should surcharge the shipping companies"
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily at Tin Can Island Port, a Chieftain of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Chief Simeon Olua lamented that most of the transporters cannot access the terminals to load cargoes as a result of bad roads.
He said that a distance that truckers normally charge N45,0000, they now collect N150,000 because it takes the one week to enter into the port.
It is not only the truckers that are suffering it, even the terminal operators and freight forwarders are suffering as a result of the bad road.
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