Indications have emerged that bonded terminal; Port and Terminal Multiservice Limited otherwise known as PTML at the Mile 2 end of the Apapa Oshodi expressway is gradually turning into a market place as hawkers of assorted products and food vendors have now chosen the entrance of the terminal to spot their market.
Indications have emerged that bonded terminal; Port and Terminal Multiservice Limited otherwise known as PTML at the Mile 2 end of the Apapa Oshodi expressway is gradually turning into a market place as hawkers of assorted products and food vendors have now chosen the entrance of the terminal to spot their market.
The off- dock terminal which was set up to ease congestion at the PTML terminal at Tin Can Island port is gradually losing its beauty because traders with various merchandise on display are now giving the terminal a different outlook even as influx of hoodlums into the terminal is on steady rise.
Shipping Position Daily correspondent who visited the off dock terminal last week disclosed that human traffic is gradually increasing and that genuine freight forwarders cannot be differentiated from the undesirables.
Based on our investigation, apart from being a vehicle terminal, PTML in Mile 2 currently plays host to food vendors, local alcohol sellers, cloth sellers, recharge cards vendors, photocopy stands as well as those seeking for instant sales of their vehicles.
However, latest business at the terminal spotted by our correspondent last week was the black market sellers of petroleum product trying to sell to vehicles that have been cleared from the terminal.
One of the black market petroleum traders who identified himself as Samuel Ifeanyi told Shipping Position Daily that the business has flourished at some terminals in Lagos a result of the recent scarcity of petroleum product in the country.
He said that the demand for fuel at the terminal by importers and agents has given rise to the business of supplying fuel to those that are in need.
The hawker who described the trade as a means of survival said that it has helped solved some of their urgent needs even as he commended the management of the PTML for establishing a terminal at Mile 2.
According to him, ‘it is the importers that gave us the motivation of doing the business and it is gradually helping us a lot’’.
‘’Some of the vehicles that have been cleared from the terminal need fuel before it can move and we have been able to help in that regard to provide fuel for the agents, so we are rendering services legitimately’’.
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