Leading indigenous terminal operator and owners of the Port and Cargo Terminal at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos, Sifax Group, has lamented that the bad state of ports’ access roads is affecting businesses within the port.
Executive Director of Administration and Human Resources of the group; Dr. Phil Ofulue told Shipping Position Daily exclusively last week, that the bad roads leading inward and out of the port are the cause of most challenges being experienced by stakeholders.
Leading indigenous terminal operator and owners of the Port and Cargo Terminal at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos, Sifax Group, has lamented that the bad state of ports’ access roads is affecting businesses within the port.
Executive Director of Administration and Human Resources of the group; Dr. Phil Ofulue told Shipping Position Daily exclusively last week, that the bad roads leading inward and out of the port are the cause of most challenges being experienced by stakeholders.
He called for the revitalization of the rail tracks within the port in order to ameliorate the challenges of haulage businesses and for prompt movement of cargoes out of the terminals.
Ofulue also said that most of the haulage trucks operating at the port are too old and rickety. He blamed the State and Federal Government for not paying adequate attention to the roads despite several consultations from stakeholders.
"The implication is that a trip that can cost you 10 minutes will probably take a whole day, because sometimes the trucks are rickety and are not well maintained, they are frequently breaking down, often times we have containers falling off the trucks and killing human beings", he lamented.
"And at a higher level, we are praying that the idea of revitalizing the railways will come up because if you go into the port you will see that the rail tracks are there, they are inbuilt, they have been there right from time to be part of the port system, if the railways are revitalized and become operational, it will ease pressure", he added.
Ofulue expressed optimism that once the road challenges are addressed, it will improve the turn- around time of vessels at the port.
He however also blamed the situation on the recklessness of truck drivers and lack of adherence to laid down traffic rules by other road users, especially the truck drivers and the other public transporters.
Speaking further, he told our correspondent that, "at the industry level, several meetings and contacts have been made with the State and the Federal Government in order to see how this could be addressed, especially the bad roads", but regretted that, “it is a problem of inadequate attention from the government and the attitude of road users, this is something we must address together”.
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