The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ports

  • 2019 elections: Customs to deploy scanners in ports

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has okayed the deployment of scanners at seaports to check the influx of dangerous items into the country, it was learnt.

    Speaking with The Nation, its Area Controller, Tin Can Command Mr Musa Baba Abdullahi said the Service would deploy the scanners to boost 100 per cent cargo clearance.

    “With regards to the 2019 elections, the Service is trying to commission the scanners. Some of them are not there now, but the Service is working seriously to ensure that the scanners are put in place.

    “As soon as the scanners are put in place, we are sure of 100 per cent cargo examination through the scanners. At least,  we would be sure of what is coming, compared to the physical examination that is there now,  sometimes, human element can come in, sometimes you might forget certain things, which might end up being a serious issue,”he said.

    On the involvement of foreigners in cargo clearance at the seaports, Musa blamed the development on Nigerians.

    He called for a law that would  spell it out that certain jobs must be reserved for Nigerians, especially areas where we have the capacity and comparative advantage.

    “Our people prefer foreigners than Nigerians. We need to ask ourselves why it is so; many of the bike riders are from Chad, Niger etc, while those doing tilling are from Togo and Cotonou.

    “Nigerians have to change our attitude to work. Sincerely, we are not good managers. You can carry out an independent analysis of certain sectors; take note of the businesses, we work more, if we are controlled by foreigners.

    “For instance, if you give Nigerian companies, they run it aground. But if you bring in an expatriate from outside, they work hard for every seven days, you would find a Nigerian being engaged unofficially in some family issues and extended family issues. But for the expatriates, who is in the country for the job,  he would forget about those mundane things and focus on his job for 30 days,” he said.

  • NPA bans empty containers from ports

    Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Managing Director (MD) Hadiza Bala Usman has warned truck drivers and owners against bringing empty containers to the ports.

    Henceforth, such containers must be taken to the shipping firms’ holding bays.

    Ms Usman is said to have directed operators to stop using their terminals for storing empty container and no truck driver or owner must be allowed by any official of the NPA and terminal operators to bring empty containers into the ports after delivering goods to importers.

    Ms Usman took the step to manage traffic in and around the ports.

    Over 40 per cent of the space at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) and the Tin-Can Island Port is occupied by empty containers.

    Ms Usman also ordered terminal operators to declare the number of empty containers in their terminals.

    Most of the firms at the ports have no holding bays, despite the huge money they have generated since the ports were concessioned in 2006.

    The NPA, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Shippers Council  and the Nigeria Customs Service, it was alleged, do not have a record of the empty containers in most terminals.

    Speaking with The Nation in Lagos, a senior official of the Federal Ministry of Transport (FMoT), who  pleaded not to be named, urged the government to support NPA in stopping operators from using terminals for storing.

    “The Federal Government must support Ms Usman in her efforts to bring sanity to our ports. The shipping companies who are the owners of the empty containers must acquire holding bays that will receive them. The empty containers are to be evacuated to port terminals for export based on call-up system to be managed by the shipping firms and terminal operators,’’ the official said.

    Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi and the NPA, the  official said, should direct operators to publish weekly the number of cargoes with empty containers, at the ports. Most of the operators, the official alleged, connived with some NPA officials and shipping firms to keep containers at their terminals to create the impression that the ports are busy.

    Lagos State Shippers’Association Chairman Mr. Jonathan Nicol said  shipping firms were required to have bays. He added that most of the containers were in bad shape and could no longer be returned to Europe.

    Nicol said the containers were bought at cheaper prices to ship goods to Nigeria where they were  dumped. “Nigeria is not a dumping ground for containers. Now that there is no space in the ports for these containers, the shipping firms need to get holding bays and if they don’t have, they should hire,” he said.

    He also said the country was losing N1 trillion yearly through cargo diversion to neighbouring countries due to the gridlock on the ports’ access roads.

    Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) immediate past president Prince Olayiwola Shittu advised shipping firms to get holding bays or rent them, adding: “There are so many companies with holding bays that are looking for people to rent them.”

    Shittu said the step being taken by the NPA would save importers demurrage on containers trapped in Apapa gridlock for days and reduce cost of goods in the market.

    Some truck drivers said the challenge was that there was no truck park in Apapa, resulting in a situation where trucks were parked by the roadside and on bridges  waiting to be called up to bring their empty containers into the terminals.

    An importer, Chief Onasanya Ladejobi, expressed concern over the Apapa gridlock, which hinders access to the ports.

    Ladejobi said the bad roads were hampering trade and affecting delivery of cargoes. He said the empty containers must be moved to their ports of origin and  ports infrastructure be revamped to revive the economy.

    The business community,  according to him, is unhappy that measures adopted have not  yielded results to free the roads leading to LPC and the Tin-Can Island Port.

    The business community and port users, he said, were waiting for what he called “positive action” from Amaechi soon, adding that the quick rehabilitation of the road must be one of the minister’s major priorities in salvaging the economy.

    The Federal Government, states and stakeholders, he said, should work together to find a lasting solution to the problem.

    Ladejobi called for the promotion of agro-allied products export to free the ports and boost the economy, noting that he was not happy that about 90 per cent of containers traffic left the ports empty.

    The importer urged the public and private sectors to support government’s efforts at diversifying the economy.

    X-raying the ports’ last quarter operations, he said  there was  the  need to complement the NPA’s efforts at massive investments in infrastructural renewal and automation of port operations by generating enough export cargo to move empty containers out of the ports.

    The NPA, he said, must collaborate with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and Abuja Commodities & Exchange Commission in the promotion of solid minerals and agro-allied products to boost the economy. The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and Nigerian Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACIMA), he said, must also work with the NPA in tandem with the Federal Government policy on export promotion.

  • Shippers’ Council boss seeks efficiency at ports

    The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) is determined to make the ports more efficient to enable them compete with those of neighbouring countries, its Executive Secretary, Mr Hassan Bello, has said.

    He told The Nation that operators and other stakeholders should collaborate with the government to make the ports attractive, competitive and to be the sub-region’s preferred cargo destination.

    The collaboration, he said, is necessary to drive the reform in the sector to attract more cargoes. According to him, NSC is working with the government and private operators  to create a level-playing field for all.

    “The council is looking for an equilibrium that is needed in port operation, and that is why we interact with the operators regularly.

    “The port system is a representation of various interests and everybody has a target. That is why there is need for a neutral observer that will bring everybody together.

    “That is what the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is doing to cement the relationship so that synergy will be brought to bear on the positive contribution of shipping to the  economy.

    “The more cargo we have, the more it translates to economic growth; the more it translates to employment; building of new infrastructure and making transportation the driver of the nation’s economy,” he said.

    Bello said the complaints by port users, shippers and shipping companies vary, adding that  the complaints were to right certain wrongs. Some complaints, he said, are monetary, some on lack of equipment and short-landing of goods.

    The council, Bello said, has been persuasive with its regulatory power to eradicate the challenges hindering port operations and make the ports the preferred cargo destination. He said genuine automation of port operations would increase efficiency and decrease waste.

    The effect of these, according to him, would be making the ports attractive with increased cargoes, which in turn, would enhance government revenue.

    Bello said there would be more employment and the ports would then become the preferred destination for importers.

    “If it is five days in port A and it is one day in port B, I will rather go to port B because it is the economy of scale that determines which port is used. We have made it possible for us to make that comparison within the sub-consciousness of the national discourse on the economy.

    “It is important for our ports to be efficient and our ports are picking up now. Corruption is what we have been talking about and there are many ways to kill corruption and one of them is automation because the moment you have automation, corruption will just disappear. With the introduction of electronic payment platform, what took place in six days then, will now take place in six seconds.

    “Some of the delays have been eliminated by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the agency is also trying to introduce other electronic system of doing things, the same thing with Customs,” he said.

    The NSC boss urged the government to address the challenges confronting the port system with good policies.

    Investors, he said, needed  certainty and ease of doing business in Nigeria, which could be brought about by the government intervention, especially in the gridlock at Apapa.

    According to him, no matter how efficient a terminal is, if there is no road to evacuate cargoes, it will be difficult. So, there must be some level of intervention.

    “The ideas are to have an electronic passage to ensure that a truck is only in Apapa when it is needed to pick or drop cargo. Then, we don’t need trailers to go to tank farms because we have the pipeline, which is also a means of transportation.

    “The moment  we have these pipelines pumping to Mosimi and other flow stations, then we don’t need tankers in Apapa.

    “We cannot rely only on access road, ports should be accessible by road, rail, inland water ways and pipelines because the port is not a storage place for cargo at all,” he said.

    Bello also said the NSC is also establishing Truck Transit Parks along major highways in the country to help address the challenge of trucks parking along major roads in the country, adding that  the project is Public Private Partnership (PPP) aimed at reducing incidences of road congestion and loss of cargoes due to indiscriminate parking by truck drivers.

    The executive secretary explained that the council, in partnership with states, would build modern parks with hotels, restaurants, filling stations and garages for repair and maintenance of vehicles.

    According to him, the facility will also have weigh measures not only for trucks, but also small cars travelling at night can stop over there and stay because there will be security. This will provide revenue for the state government because there will be employment for people and other small businesses can spring up also.

    “We have secured a land from Kogi State Government along Abuja road; Enugu State Government has also given us land in Obolo Afor and other state governments have indicated interest in the project,” he said.

  • ‘Why our ports are not competitive’

    The maritime sector is meant to be a cash cow for the government, but the dearth of infrastructure and uncompetitive tariffs have abridged its potential to take its pride of place. The Vice President/Chief Executive Officer, ENL, Princess Vickky Haastrup, in this interview with Group Business Editor SIMEON EBULU, says if given attention, the maritime sector can upstage oil in revenue generation.

    What is the maritime sector’s contribution to revenue and job creation in relation to the economy?

    The maritime sector is very huge in terms of capacity – human capacity, trade facilitation, income generation and job creation. It is indeed very huge. This sector is actually better than the oil and gas sector because it is here to stay forever. There will always be export and import trade facilitation, but I tell you one thing: oil will disappear one day, but the maritime sector will remain for as long as the world exists; as long as Nigeria exist, there will be the maritime sector.

    If you look at the volume of people, I’m talking about human capacity operating within this sector, it is not just limited to port operations alone. When we talk about port operation, we are talking about shipping, shipping agencies, transportation, banking, insurance. It entails all facets of human endeavours. That is why it is important for the government to pay a lot of attention to this sector and explore all the advantages and the goodness that is in this sector.

    The Federal Government is actually benefitting from this sector in terms of generation of revenue by the Customs Service, which is under the Ministry of Finance. The Finance Minister will be in the position to tell you how much the Federal Government has been able to generate in terms of income from this sector.

    That’s not the only aspect. There is also NIMASA, which is generating such a huge income, both in foreign and in our local currency. You have the Nigerian Ports Authority; the Shippers’ Council and they are generating one income or the other in this industry. All of these incomes should be going to the TSA account. If you add all of them together, it’s something that is worth paying a lot of attention to.

    How can the sector be positioned, will you say the government is doing enough?

    I believe the maritime industry  has not been given enough attention. The port is the gateway to  the economy. If the economy is buoyant, you will see by the activities in the ports, if it’s not, you will see. When you come to Apapa, or Tin Can Island, you will know how well our economy is doing in terms of imports and export. So, I don’t know why enough attention is not given to this sector; why we have such a decayed infrastructure. The access road to the  port is impassable. The Nigerian Ports Authority, with the support of Nigerian Navy and the Lagos State government, have been able to manage the traffic gridlock. But getting to the port is still a nightmare. It could take you four to five hours to even have access to the port operation.

    If port operation is not smooth, if there is no enabling environment, of course you can’t discharge the ships and if you don’t discharge ships, it doesn’t only affect Nigeria, it affects all the ports of the world. Those ships that come to our parts are already scheduled to go to other parts of the world, like Rotterdam or Liverpool or even in America or Asia. So, if there is a delay in Nigerian ports, it will definitely affect other scheduling assigned to that particular ship and, of course, because of that, you’ll see that the cost of freighting to Nigeria is actually more expensive than other ports in West Africa because we are not sure when the ship will return.

    Since trucks do not have access to the ports, definitely, we can’t discharge the ships. There will be congestion in the ports. Sometimes even when we are discharging ships, the trucks that we are to discharge on, are not readily available. So, what happens? The ship is idle.

    There are lots of times in ENL that I have had to stop operations of the ships just because the trucks do not have access to the port. There is a little improvement now and we hope it will get better. The government should continue to support the port industry, because easy access to the port is really the key to the discharge of ships. The road is being filled. We hope it will be quickly finished because that is very important.

    In the absence of these necessary infrastructure, how much has it cost the government in terms of revenue?

    That’s difficult to quantify because it’s more than a figure in terms of naira and Kobo. You are talking about human capacity. How do you quantify that? We are talking of generating employment. I do not want to quantify that in terms of money, but in terms of loss as a whole because when the ships were not coming, I couldn’t pay my bills. It was difficult because the income we were generating could not support our expenses, and what do we do? It’s unquantifiable.

    Why is port operations very challenging in Nigeria compared to those of our neighbouring countries?

    When we talk about increase in cost of port business, everybody at one time shouted – terminal operators, but we have been proved right, that it was not terminal operators. You have NPA, NIMASA, freight forwarders, Customs Service, etc.  How many times has Customs Service increased charges? There is a wide gap between the Customs duty paid here and that in Benin Republic. Maybe we also need to see the Customs duty in Benin Republic and look at Customs duty in Nigeria. I’m not condemning the Nigerian government. I’m just trying to tell you that it’s not about terminal operators’’tariff. In Nigeria the duty on cars goes as high as 70 percent tariff, whereas the in Republic of Benin, it is like 10 per cent. That’s why you see a lot of smuggling because it is more convenient and far cheaper for people to go to the Republic of Benin and try to smuggle.

    That’s why smugglers are mounting pressures on Customs Service because of that disparity and wide margin in Customs duty.

    Then let’s go to NIMASA. How much is NIMASA charging in terms of their levy, compared to other people in other agencies of such nature in Africa and in other parts of the world. So, we need to be realistic when we are trying to talk about this thing. We need to compare apple for apple and orange for orange. So, we need to compare how much the terminal operators are charging compared to other terminal operators in the world.

    The conversion rate of the dollar when we took over the management of the port was about N120 to a dollar. Now naira is about N363 to a dollar. We have been depreciated in our income in dollar value, not helped by inflation. If we have to buy equipment, it is in dollars. We pay lease fees in dollars, royalty in dollars. So what’s left. We have not implemented that increase to match the inflationary cost. If we do that, it will definitely kill Nigeria. So, for me, I think we’ve been able to be considerate in what we charge.

    What are the challenges facing the sector  and how would you want the government to address them?

    The number one challenge that I think the government should address is infrastructure. It should be addressed completely, not just half way.

    They are doing the rough roads. There are other roads that lead to the ports. I don’t know if it’s possible to add another bridge to create another access road because the ports in Lagos are the major ports. Seventy to 80 percent of cargo coming to Nigeria come through the Lagos ports; until people have other alternatives. I can understand why there has been argument on ports and usage and why people can’t go to the eastern port.

    People have the right of choice and they look at where is convenient for them to bring in their cargo through other ports; the eastern ports can also be encouraged. They need to get as much cargo as Lagos ports to be effective ports too. Other ports have the capacity to handle as much cargo as we have in Lagos, only maybe not as much cargoes. So, the infrastructural decay is a major problem. The government needs to continue to repair or construct roads to the port.

    Another key challenge that I see is that of enabling environment in the port. The enabling environment has to be right. In terms of workers’ agitation, God has been able to help us address that and from time to time we talk to them and we have good leadership. Incessant stoppage of operations is not good for the sector and that has become a thing of the past. Terminal operators should be commended for ensuring that that has become a thing of the past in the ports. Terminal operators, particularly, need more assurances because we have a contract. We have the concession agreement, which is about to be reviewed and I think that’s long overdue.

    So, we are asking for quick renewal of this contract, because the terms on which we operate is in concession agreement. That is why we need an agreement that everyone will actually direct how port is run in Nigeria. For example, you know because of government policy summersault, change in policy, terminals like ENL has been seriously affected by the volume of cargo we should have handling.You know change in government policy of rice for example, rice is not coming to Nigeria anymore and ENL was doing about 1.3-1.4 million tons of rice yearly before this policy changed. That had indeed affected the business because we have what we call guarantee minimum tonnage (GMT). Whether your volume increase or is gone down it does not concern the government. You still have to pay your agreed lease fee and that has been the challenge for us because our income also does not support such dwindling cargo volume. So we really need to look at that.

    What about the issue of government agencies at the ports?

    Exactly. That is another bottleneck. We are still talking about numbers of agencies in the port. Now the government has increased it to eight. That’s not done anywhere in the world. I don’t know why NAFDAC is back. What is NAFDAC coming to do in the port? I don’t understand. They do not have to be present in the port unless they are called as the need arises. If it doesn’t arise, what are they coming? Things like this, ultimately, adds to the delay in cargo clearance in the ports because everybody wants to feel important. Everybody wants to exert their authority. That’s how it’s been happening. We’re talking about ease of doing business.

    The government needs to see to it that importers of cargo are not frustrated when they bring in their cargo, in the process of clearance their goods from  the ports and that’s also adding to congestion because some of these cargos are in the port. We need to turn over the staking areas. The cargo is there and it is becoming very difficult for the clearing agent to clear the goods that are already there in the staking agent.

    We are indirectly or directly losing money. So everybody is losing money. So, I think having eight agencies in the port is one way too much; it does not help ease of doing business in Nigeria. It’s not done anywhere in the world; so, why is Nigeria an isolated case? I think they can streamline some of those things and make life easy for importers. There has to be a way where things are done properly so that people don’t bleed unnecessarily because all those processes are opened to corruption. That’s why when you asked me is there corruption in the ports, I said Yes and No. These are some of the things that create corruption.

     

     

  • ’90 percent of goods imported via ports under declared’

    Not less than 90 percent of goods imported through ports are under-declared, The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has disclosed.

    This, the Council said, has led to huge loss of revenue for the federal government.

    The Council also said there was no need for Nigeria to depend on oil because the transport sector has the capacity to finance federal budget.

    Executive Secretary of the NSC, Hassan Bello, stated these during a courtesy call on the Ag. Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr. Musa Abubakar in Abuja.

    Bello said: “No matter how hard we try to bring development, there are two key issues, security and corruption. If we don’t fight these, then I am afraid that the progress will not be much.

    “Corruption at our ports and the transport system is particularly damaging to the economy of this country.”

    On steps to curb corruption at the ports Bello said: “We have unveiled a technology that will make us know when the containers arrive, their position and everything.

    “So the issues of dwell time of cargo and collision will be a thing of the past.

    “We also have the Cargo Tracking Note or Advance Cargo Information System.

    “90 percent of goods coming into Nigeria are under-declared.  It is not the value. There is massive connivance to reduce the value of goods so that people don’t pay the actual import duty.

    “Government is losing a lot of revenue and there is so much leakage.

    “If we introduce the Advance Cargo Tracking Note (ACTN), the value of goods coming in will be known. So there will be no hiding.”

    He also said the device has the capacity to reduce proliferation of firearms and other illegal items.

    Abubakar pledged to continue to collaborate with the Council to boost the nation’s revenue.

     

  • Operators promote safety at ports

    TO celebrate the Global Safety Day, APM Terminals Apapa Limited has embarked on initiatives that will promote safety at Lagos ports

    The Global Safety Day is an annual international awareness-raising campaign to promote safe and secure working environment for workers.

    APM Terminal Apapa Managing Director Martin Jacob, who spoke with The Nation, said safety has been the company’s watchword over the years, assuring that the company will continue to focus on enhancing safety standards.

    “For APM Terminals, safety is the licence to operate and we have kept that as our watchword and we will continue in that focus. This year, we have decided to hold the safety day in conjunction with our other brands to portray our new theme, which is: “Stronger and Safer Together”. With that we can help each other support our safety journey going forward,”he said.

    He assured that his firm will continue to train and educate its workers,  the public and clients, on the need for safety, especially truck drivers because of their strategic role in the business.

    Maersk Nigeria Managing Director Gildas Tohouo also reiterated his company’s commitment to employees’ safety, noting that everyone across the shipping and logistics value chain has vital roles in safety matters.

    “We are all responsible for the safety of ourselves and our colleagues whether at sea, shore, Inland Container Depot (ICD) and terminals. We all depend on each other. For us at Maersk, constant care is one of our core values and making sure that our colleagues are safe,”he said.

    On his part, Damco Country Manager, Sesan Ibitoye, said safety is a critical part of his firm’s engagement.

    ”We don’t joke with safety. It is at the centre of our operations. If you do not tell people about it, then you do not make them think about it. We hold ourselves accountable to it and every member of our staff goes through training on safety to highlight the importance of this and ensure as individuals that we keep safe,” he said.

    Clearing agents, truck owners and importers, who spoke with The Nation, commended APM Terminals for its high-level of safety and security in its operations.

    Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) Chairman Remi Ogungbemi said he was happy with the steps taken by the promoters of the APM Terminal in Lagos.

    ”Since inception, APM Terminals has been at the vanguard of promoting safety, which has helped reduce the rate of accidents at the port,” he said.

  • NPA: only eight agencies free to operate in ports

    NPA: only eight agencies free to operate in ports

    The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has directed the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to ensure compliance to the October 26, 2011, directive on agencies permitted to operate in the ports.

    The NPA, in a statement yesterday, said only eight federal agencies were allowed to operate and be represented in all ports.

    The agencies are:  NPA, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Police, Department of State Sevices (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Port Health and the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

    The statement by General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Abdullahi Goje, said: “Other agencies not mentioned in the list above should remain outside the port premises as the Nigerian Customs Service, which is the lead agency for inspection of cargoes, has developed standard operating procedures to facilitate their seamless operation.

    “The NPA remains committed to the determination of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to enhance the ease of doing business in the country and the improvement of conditions under which business is carried out in all ports across the country.

    “The authority solicits for the kind support of all agencies and stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime sector towards actualising the noble goal of making Nigeria a destination of choice for all legitimate businesses.”

  • NSC: we won’t compromise on ports’efficiency

    The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) remained committed to ensuring efficiency at the ports to make them compete with those in neighbouring countries, its Executive Secretary, Hassan Bello, has said.

    Bello told The Nation that automation of ports’services was necessary to drive the change needed to reform the sector to attract more cargoes.

    He said ports automation and the establishment of the Truck Transit Parks would increase efficiency and reduce waste, adding that openness would facilitate cargo clearance.

    The NSC chief urged the government to take a deliberate action to address the numerous challenges confronting the port system through consistent and predictable policies.

    He said investors needed certainty and ease of doing business in Nigeria, which could be brought about by government’s intervention, especially in addressing the perennial gridlock in Apapa.

    Bello said no matter how efficient a terminal is, it is extremely difficult to evacuate cargoes with good road network. “So, there must be some sort of intervention on the roads,” he said.

    According to him, this was necessary to ensure free passage of trucks in and around Apapa when they are needed to pick or drop cargoes.

    For the tank farms, Bello said there was no need for trailers to go to tank farms since there are pipelines, which are also means of transportation.

  • How terminal operators increase govt revenue at ports 

    How terminal operators increase govt revenue at ports 

    A lot has changed at the ports since the Federal Government concessioned the terminals in 2006, a senior official of the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMoF), has said.

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), through the private terminal operators, the official said, has been running the ports effectively, saying NPA generated $140 million in 2005 before the concession and over $450 million from the Lagos Ports in 2014.

    Speaking with The Nation, the official said the government revenue has increased geometrically since the concession.

    The official, who asked his name be veiled, said government concessioned the ports to generate more revenue and allow for greater flexibility, efficiency and better services to importers and other port users by resolving some of the major challenges confronting ports operations.

    The turnaround time in 2005, at the Lagos Port complex and Tin-Can port, he said, was 10.0; vessel waiting time was 3.0, addinig that between 2014 and 2016, the turnaround time and vessel waiting time have reduced to 4.0 and 1.3 and zero level in 2017.

    He said: “Concession is a process whereby the concession grantor gives the right to operate facility and/or deliver a service of public interest to a merchant concession-aire, against the commitment assumed by the concessionaire to build and manage the subject of the concession, or to manage the delivery of service at the conces-sionaire’s own risk.”

    Before the 2006 concession, the official said, the ports demonstrated very low levels of efficiency, which resulted in long turnaround times for ships and increased container dwell time.

    In today’s global commerce, he said, seaports play an important role of being many nations’ major gateway for international trade and are a good instrument for measuring the economic health of a nation.

    “The ports have considerable influence on the volume and conditions of trade as well as the capacity for economic development of nations still developing.

    “In our country, greater percentage of international trade is routed through the sea, and given our huge population, it is believed that our economy accounts for over 70 per cent of all seaborne trade in the West African sub-region. Hence, the country’s ports are increasingly challenged to meet the pressure mounted from movement of ships and cargo in and out of the ports.

    “The Federal Government embarked on the concession of the ports basically to solve the protracted problems of inefficiency, corruption, mismanagement and huge debts that characterised the ports, then.

    “The rationale behind the concession includes the $34 million indebtedness of the NPA, the redundancy of 24 out of 83 managers as well as its poor management structure. Emphatically, concession of the ports refers to lease of port terminals and re-organisation of stevedoring companies. About 110 applications were received in December 2003 and out of 94 pre-qualified concessionaires, only 20 were granted approval to operate seaport terminals for between 10 to 25 years,” the official said.

    Since the concession was done, the official said: The cost of port services is now competitive; the turnaround time has improved;the percentage of berth occupancy rate has improved;the infrastructural facilities have improved significantly andthe security around the seaports has improved.

    The official, however, lamented the poor access roads to the Lagos ports and urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Transportation to address the perennial gridlock in Apapa.

    The spokesman of the terminal operators, Mr Bolaji Akinola, said the concessionaires are working vigorously  with the current management of NPA to ensure that the ports become “the leading ports in Africa, to deliver efficient port service in a safe, secure and customer-friendly environment.Our core value as terminal operators includes efficiency, safety, security, customer friendly and new innovations”.

    Akinola said Nigerians have forgotten that before the concession, the “turnaround time for ships was too long and usually calculated in weeks, sometimes months, depending on the cargo being loaded or discharged; cargo-handling plants and equipment owned by the NPA were few and mostly unserviceable, leading to shipping companies hiring these machines from private sector sources after having paid for it.

    Dwell time for goods in ports, he said, was prolonged due to poor port management. “There was congestion in the port; corruption was high among contractors and various service providers at the port; the ports were rated as one of the costliest seaports in the world, as a result of the compounded problems.

    “Many port premises and quay aprons had fallen to disuse and failed road sections inside the ports made movement of goods within port grounds cumbersome and very slow; following the seaport congestion, complaints of untrace-able or missing cargoes were being regularly leveled against the NPA,” Akinola said, adding that the security inside the ports was said to have been compromised by the activities of camp-boys, wharf-rats and other miscreants operating inside the ports.

    Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Publicity Secretary, Dr Kayode Farinto, said with the huge equipment at the ports and the introduction of standard in the type of vehicles that can enter the ports, “NPA and the terminal operators have brought efficiency to the ports through the port reform.”

     

  • Ports: ships with petroleum products expected

    Ports: ships with petroleum products expected

    Twenty six ships laden with petroleum products, food items and other goods are expected to arrive Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports in Lagos from Sept. 7 to Sept. 23.

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) stated this in its publication, `Shipping Position’, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

    NPA said that the ships contained buck wheat, bulk corn, bulk sugar, base oil, empty container, bulk maize, frozen fish, bulk salt, petrol and containers laden with goods.

    NAN reports that 10 ships arrived the ports waiting to berth with bulk fertiliser, bulk maize, steel products, diesel and petrol.

    NAN reports that 22 other ships are currently at the ports discharging bulk wheat, bulk corn, bulk fertiliser, general cargo, bulk gypsum, bulk sugar, frozen fish, petrol, buthane and crude palm olein.