Terminal Operator; Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL) as well as Nigerian shippers under the aegis of Shippers Association of Lagos State (SALS) have bemoaned the continuous closure of some roads within the Apapa port environment due to on-going repairs.
While speaking at a meeting in Lagos on Tuesday, President of the Shippers Association, Rev. Jonathan Nicole called on the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola to order immediate opening of completely rehabilitated roads within Apapa to allow trucks navigate freely.
Terminal Operator; Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL) as well as Nigerian shippers under the aegis of Shippers Association of Lagos State (SALS) have bemoaned the continuous closure of some roads within the Apapa port environment due to on-going repairs.
While speaking at a meeting in Lagos on Tuesday, President of the Shippers Association, Rev. Jonathan Nicole called on the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola to order immediate opening of completely rehabilitated roads within Apapa to allow trucks navigate freely.
He attributed the constant falling of containers on roads within the port to the bad condition of the roads.
Nicole said that if government wants to improve on port facility, they should reclaim the whole of Creek road within Apapa and pay-off some owners and occupants of the property and expand the ports.
"We have to call the Lagos State Government, we have to go and meet the Governor because he cannot be repairing all the roads at the same time, they should take it one after the other because Apapa is very small and yet we have heavy duty trucks and close to 5,000 containers coming into this country every month"
"We also have 600 heavy duty trucks getting out of the port everyday, where is the road?, he said
At the Tin Can Island Port, Nicole suggested that a maritime village should be built to accommodate seafarers stopping by at the ports. "When the seafarers come from their journey they have nowhere to go, so Tin Can is a beautiful place for a maritime village"
On his part, Managing Director of GDNL Terminal; Capt. Joshua Oyewunmi stressed the need for government to join hands together with port stakeholders and solve the traffic problem in Apapa.
"With the traffic we are having now, I am not sure it is within our powers anymore because the roads are nothing to write home about, there are lots of potholes everywhere, and the whole of Apapa now there are lots of repairs going on and everywhere is closed" he lamented.
Oyewunmi lamented that only one major road used by all motorists and trucks coming and going into Apapa port is the Wharf Road; even as he pointed out that the strategic road itself has so many potholes.
He added that "Until all the repairs are fully done, I don't see much that anybody can do".
He said that the number of containers coming to Apapa port is too many and that there is urgent need to expand the port to accommodate the volume of trade coming to the port.
"Apapa port has been the same since it started, there has been no expansion, when the area is not expanded and you are bringing in more traffic, you have one house and five children, eventually if you had 20 children there will be lots of problems"
He charged clearing agents and importers to endeavor to make correct declarations in order to avoid their containers being detained inside the terminals.
"Until we begin to be honest with ourselves, if you bring in a container and you fail to declare it correctly, I don't think you should blame the customs if they delay such container" he said.
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