Even as business activities have started thriving at the off-dock terminal at Ijora, fresh indications have emerged that the Lilypond terminal might suffer yet another setback when construction works currently going on at APM Terminal might have been completed.
The current inflow of containers to the Ijora-based terminal has been largely attributed to lack of space at the terminal located at the Lagos Port Complex and not for the purpose of creating an atmosphere for business to thrive at Lilypond.
Even as business activities have started thriving at the off-dock terminal at Ijora, fresh indications have emerged that the Lilypond terminal might suffer yet another setback when construction works currently going on at APM Terminal might have been completed.
The current inflow of containers to the Ijora-based terminal has been largely attributed to lack of space at the terminal located at the Lagos Port Complex and not for the purpose of creating an atmosphere for business to thrive at Lilypond.
Freight forwarders operating at the Lilypond terminal have expressed worries about starving the terminal of containers even as they put all the blames on APMT for the inadequate handling equipment at its terminal.
Chairman of Lilypond Chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Reverend Emmanuel Agubanze told Shipping Position Daily exclusively in Lagos that after the completion of the construction in September, APMT might cease to transfer containers to Lilypond.
The NAGAFF chieftain said that for now, the concessionaire has no option than to stem containers to Lilypond because of lack of space at the port which is currently under rehabilitation.
He raised alarm that," by August or September they said construction will be over ,the expansion will be over and they will no longer stem containers to Lilypond" .
However ,he alleged that APMT has not been efficient compared to other container terminals in the seaports of in Lagos
Agubanze also alleged that Danish firm recently assured importers and their agents that they are set to bring in rubber tyre gantry cranes.
According to him, the company has not invested much, in the area of cargo handling equipment and a lot of customers have abandoned the APMT for other container terminals like Ports and Cargo Handling Services, Grimaldi and Tin Can Island Containers Terminal (TICT).
He described the three container terminals at Tin Can Island Port as better managed when compared to APMT.
He added that plans are on-going by agents to ensure that Lilypond becomes a port of destination, even as he stressed that importers are ready to work towards achieving that.
He noted that bill of lading will indicate its port of discharge as Lilypond and by so doing the terminal will be up and doing again
"Because of the positive response we are getting from our importers that Lilypond is now functioning, most of them have decided that they will use the initiative of bill of lading where they will indicate that the final port of discharge is Lilypond".
" And with that we think we are going to sustain the inflow of cargo to Lilypond even when the APMT has stopped the stemming of vessel".
"Everybody is happy, the shipping companies that are using Lilypond are happy because their containers are returned to them and most of them are willing to do business with Lilypond", he stated.
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