“Why We Are in Business”— Tank Farm Operators

A cross section of  owners of  lucrative petroleum products reception facilities popularly called tank farms in Lagos have described their emergence in the business as being necessitated by the need to fill a yearning gap in petroleum importation and distribution system.
According to those who spoke to Shipping Position Weekly correspondent, at a point, it became obvious that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) can no longer cope with the demand for petroleum products owing largely to epileptic refineries and pipeline vandalism. 
At a time, the Petroleum Products and Marketing Company; a subsidiary of NNPC had about31 depots, but our findings revealed that only about five are currently working, owing largely to activities of vandals.
The tank farm owners explained that many of them decided to venture into the business of importation of petroleum products because of the yarning gap between supply and demand for products.
There are about 21 tank farms in Lagos alone, while about 50 have already sought approval from regulatory agencies to commence businesses in Calabar, Cross Rivers state.
 The presence of the tank farms in Apapa has attracted patronages from owners of retail outlets who come from all parts of the country with trucks to lift products.
The tank farm owners acknowledged that the high vehicular traffic that have become a permanent feature of the Apapa end of the ever-busy Apapa – Oshodi expressway in Lagos are sometimes caused by the petroleum tankers drivers who park their vehicles indiscriminately. They were however quick to commend the efforts of law enforcement officers who according to them have been able to restore sanity.  
According to those who spoke to our correspondent anonymously, the trucks stay on queue for days to lift products from the private sector facilities in Lagos because the PPMC depots can not meet their demands
Shipping Position Weekly investigations revealed also that PPMC has not been able to feed depots in Benin, Edo state, Makurdi, Benue state, Warri, Delta state, Ore, Ondo state and Port Harcourt, Rivers state among others, owing largely to the state of the pipelines.
“We know this and I am sure many people do too and that is why the tank farms have been very supportive to ensure that there is no shortage of products”, a manager in one of the farms told our correspondent.  
An official of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), the umbrella body for owners of tank farm confirmed that the nation has come to rely on their operations, even as he admitted that initially, NNPC had a good network of petroleum products distribution through efficient and well laid-out pipeline system, but added that over time virtually all the pipelines have been vandalized. 
Confirming that trucks do come to Apapa and Ibafo to lift products, he explained that, the way the pipelines were designed was such that form the Atlas Cove facilities, supplies can be guaranteed to reach the whole of the South West as well as  Kwara and Kogi states.   
Similarly, he explained that Warri and Port Harcourt depots are not functioning adding that if they were; there would have been no need for people to come from as far as Markudi, Niger state and Benin to lift products form Apapa and Ibafo.
“What further compounded the problem is that ships laden with petroleum products no longer go to Port Harcourt and Warri for fear of militant attacks. All these have made Lagos very attractive”, he said even as he confirmed that many tank farms are about to spring up in Cross Rivers state soon, due to what he called the relative peace in that state.