Downstream activities at petroleum tank farms located at Ibru complex at Coconut axis of Apapa-Oshodi expressway is on the very lower ebb, even as petroleum marketers have blamed the situation on activities of container trucks, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the shipping companies in Apapa Lagos.
This is even as the operators have warned that unless the situation is quickly addressed by the government, there is bound to be fuel scarcity at filling stations across the country soon.
Recall that truck drivers had besieged the Apapa-Oshodi expressway in Lagos last week due to NPA’s suspension of four shipping companies, including Maersk Line and Cosco Shipping for their failure to acquire container holding bays.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily, a petroleum marker at Integrated Oil tank farm, Prince Wisdom Ogbuagwu said that since the traffic situation resurfaced last week, it has been extremely difficult for petroleum tankers to maneuver into the tank farms. According to him, most tank farms receive not less than 100 trucks per day, but that as it is, they are doing 15 trucks per day.
Speaking further, he said “the traffic is disturbing us seriously, because of the activities of container truck drivers, most of our trucks cannot get inside the depot on time, so our activities have reduced drastically, where we are supposed to receive 100 trucks, we may not receive more than 15 trucks in a day, this is because the containers were just blocking us”
“As it is now, we are using only the service lane with them and other road users, the expressway is still not completed around Sunrise to Coconut bus stop”
“Those that are selling petroleum products cannot sell it on time because the buyers cannot get to here, then in terms of our own revenue, our revenue depends on the number of trucks that comes in to come and load, it is affecting the marketers and the banks who are expecting back their money from the marketer but the money is not coming in as it supposed to because of the traffic”
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily, an official of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Comrade Olanife Adeoye confirmed that the lack of access to the depots is affecting revenue and income of the union seriously.
He said that the situation has been giving the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) of the union a tough time in controlling the traffic situation.
“The VIO are controlling the situation at the tank farms but getting the truck from Mile 2 to the depot is difficult, as we are coordinating our entrance, the containers are there too, the tankers are far behind, they cannot even come near, so the loading is very low, if you get to our depot now you will discover that inside the depot is empty, we only have one or two trucks coming”, he said.
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