The Executive Vice Chairman of ENL Terminal, Princess Vicky Haastrup has explained why she decided to stop barging activities at the terminal.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily exclusively last week in Lagos, Haastrup accused barge operators of destroying the quay apron at the terminals, a development which she said will cost the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) a huge sum of money to repair.
She also said that barging has caused a total mess at the terminal causing unnecessary traffic congestion at the terminal, even as she stressed that the situation has affected cargo discharge on ships at the terminal.
“I can decide whether to do barging or not, in this instance, I decided not to do barging, look at the way they people that are even doing the barging, they are spoiling the quay apron, NPA will be needing so much money to repair the quay apron that they have spoilt and not only that, they cause total mess to the terminal, there will be traffic upon traffic, it will affect the discharge of ships that I am doing. Because they will just bring all the trucks sometimes my operation is at a standstill because of barge operation”, she lamented.
Explaining further, the Chairman of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) said discharge of ships should be given priority more than barge operation, even as she added that most of the discharged containers do not belong to ENL.
“If I have ships waiting; which one should have priority, my ships should have priority. They are not even my containers in the first instance, so I don’t have liability towards it, I was only trying to help, but this one everybody is making it look like we have committed an offence by stopping barging activities, I have a right to decide even ships, which ship I want and the one I don’t”
“I cannot ask ships to stop because of barging, it is not even my responsibility; all those containers are going to APMT they are not coming to my terminal, I don’t own ships, I am not a shipping line and I didn’t bring in those containers, I didn’t do the import of those containers. We were only trying to help, but I just discovered that doing it for now constitutes encumbrances to my operations. You can’t ask ships to stay because of barges, it is not possible, do they know how much it will cost a ship waiting. In June when there were lots of rainfalls, a lot of ships couldn’t discharge quickly because of rain with the nature of cargo we handle. which is general cargo the moment there is rain or the weather is not looking good. So the ships were staying longer than they should, a ship that will discharge in seven days was staying between 18 to 20days. So there was congestion a lot of ships were waiting outside”
Haastrup also accused the barging operators of not abiding with the Standard Operations Procedure (SOP).
She nevertheless admitted that ENL will start barge operations again only when it is convenient for ENL terminal.
“I am not saying that I won’t do it again, but I will do it when it is convenient for ENL. no amount of pressure will change that. Thank God NPA knows I am not obliged to do any barging operation, nobody told me to start when I started and if I see that it is not helping my operations then I have to stop. For now, I am not even saying that I won’t do it again, but for now I have stopped, tomorrow might come and I will start. I plan the terminal and I plan my operations in a way that there won’t be any encumbrances, but right now they are constituting encumbrances to my operation”
“They are just mounting pressure; it is not all about that it is about the interest of ships which is very paramount. Someone will be paying if the ships stay longer and the money is in Dollars. So ships actually take precedence over barge. When I am ready, I will do it, nobody can force me, I have the right to decided even when it comes to ships and it will be subject to my operational planning”, she concluded
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