Port Pressure Group Says Ageing Equipment Impediment To Clearance Of Goods

The Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers, Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC), has described ageing equipment at the APM Terminals, Apapa Port, as major impediment to the clearance of goods within 48 hours at the port.
Mr Chuku Osita-Patrick, National President of the pressure group, made the observation in an interview in Lagos.
He noted that goods could only be cleared within 48 hours if new equipment were installed and operators’ skills improved.

The Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers, Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC), has described ageing equipment at the APM Terminals, Apapa Port, as major impediment to the clearance of goods within 48 hours at the port.
Mr Chuku Osita-Patrick, National President of the pressure group, made the observation in an interview in Lagos.
He noted that goods could only be cleared within 48 hours if new equipment were installed and operators’ skills improved.
“We are asking them to purchase new equipment because the ones they are using are outdated and slow down work progress at the port,’’  he said.
Osita-Patrick also advocated 24-hour operations at the port, arguing that a shift system would reduce congestion and increase the daily productivity profile.
He identified poor access roads to the port and the heavy vehicular congestion around Apapa ports as constituting another hindrance to the clearance of goods within 48 hours.
“In this October alone, we have witnessed about three trucks that fell with their containers on the road, and we know the stress people go through in Apapa,’’ the SNFFIEC president said.
Osita-Patrick urged the Federal Government to curb the level of corruption at the ports, saying that effective management of the vice would ensure a buoyant economy.
“We are disappointed that the level of corruption is still high at the ports and this has helped in heightening the various problems we have at the ports,’’ he said
The SNFFIEC boss urged the Nigeria Customs Service to establish ports’ distress desks to enable stakeholders to lodge complaints and seek redress.