SINA FADARE who recently visited all the sea ports across the nation reports that the country is yet to get it right in the maritime industry where many business opportunities are beckoning with billions of naira lost to over-dependence on Lagos ports.
THE road is congested, bad and gridlocked. Trailers are parked like sea of heads. The people on daily basis pass through agonizing experiences, importers are in cacophony of tears for the delay of their cargoes on the sea with high demurrage cost. The bridge leading to the port is weak and weary due to heavy trailers parked endlessly on it in a struggle to gain access to the port for their daily operations. Ironically the Federal Government is smiling to the bank to the tune of billions of naira on daily bases and the road leading to the Lagos sea ports for many years remained a death trap.
The Nation gathered in recent time, about two million containers got stranded at the port with goods worth trillions of naira wasted. Ironically while all the stakeholders in the maritime industry are worried and at a crossroads, it seems the government is overwhelmed with the problems at hand.
In the beginning
Investigations revealed that when the Apapa port started operation in 1970, it was only made for 30,000 cargoes, but as of today its harbours about 80,000 cargoes, yet the infrastructural facilities to make it run effectively is zero. To a common man on the street, how come that other ports in the country cannot be used in the face of the peculiar challenges which Lagos port is facing? More importantly most of the other ports in the Southeast, the hub of business enterprise are virtually idle due to poor economic activity in the ports.
It was gathered that while the ports in Lagos have capacity utilization of about 50 60 per cent at present, the ones in the Southsouth – Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar – have about 25 per cent capacity utilization. The exception is Onne Port which is fairly busy due to oil and gas operations the port is handling.
Lamenting on the untold hardship which all the stakeholders in the maritime industry are facing on a daily basis because of the bad Apapa port road, the Vice President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto, said it was a shame to the country because the ports are generating billions of naira on a daily basis.
He argued that “If the road is fixed, about 70 percent of the problem of Lagos port has been solved. The congestion on the sea and on the road will be solved. Aside this, most of the shipping companies do not have holding bays. They still want to return the empty containers to the port; this is also causing congestion on the road.”
According to him, “Some of the owners of these containers are giving us problems because the owners are top government officials. We have shouted and cried out but nobody is listening to us until recently when the port authority is using a big stick on them. Some of their activities have been suspended now because they do not have a holding bay.
“Without any apology it is the elite of this country that is causing problem for us, all the shipping companies have retired Generals or former Heads of State, ministers and Senators both serving and retired as their chairman, therefore they can just flout the order at will until recently when the MD of Port Authority stood her ground that the law must be obeyed no matter who is involved.”
Farinto pointed out that personal ego from the officials of government agencies that ought to handle the road is affecting operation at the port coupled with the collapse of virtually all the infrastructure on the ground.
“There was a time when Lagos State wants to do the road and mount a toll on it but the minister for transports refused. There is no light in Apapa and the initial agreement was that the government will provide them electricity to do their business, but they were now running on generator on daily basis. Despite the fact that importers are charged arbitrarily without anybody to bail them out” he said.
Mr. Tony Okafor, an exporter lamented that most of his goods are on the high seas which he could not clear due to congestion on the road and numerous needless charges, “Our port is the most expensive in West Africa and coupled with the bank charges on the money loaned from the bank, everything is frustrating”
He noted that “As the situation of the road is now, there is no cargo that does not go into demurrage in Nigeria because the shipping companies start collecting money immediately the cargo arrives at the ports.”
Holding bay
The Nation gathered that one of the major challenges confronting Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) as regards congestion at the Lagos ports is lack of holding bay by the operators which eventually allowed the containers to constitute nuisance on the road while returning back to base.
According to Farinto, containers should be in a bay where they will be kept after offloading before returning back to the ports, but most of the operators have no holding bays. “The law is that if you are bringing in 500 full container load to any country, you must take away 500. But because the law was not obeyed, that is why we are facing this crisis. On every container that you see they collect deposit from us, if it is 1/20 they collect N200,000, if it is 1/40 it is N400,000.”
The congestion in the ports might have ignited the recent executive order by the presidency, that the ports should operate a24-hour business format that will ease the tension both on the road and at the sea. Unfortunately the situation remains the same.
Reacting to the executive order and its impact on the operators at the ports, Chief Cyprian Arinze, a haulage contractor said that the executive order was a mere illusion because the government is putting the cart before the horse.
“If the government takes care of the roads, we can achieve over 90 per cent ease of doing business, without this, we will just be going round and round the circles.”
Speaking in the same vein, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, Chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) argued that the order was far from the reality on the ground as the basic infrastructure aimed at turning things around at the ports are still missing.
He pointed out that to achieve the much hyped order a deliberate measure should be put in place to build truck terminals “I appeal to the concerned authorities to see what they can do because things are in a terribly bad shape right now.”
The potential
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in 2013, Apapa ports alone handled about 39 per cent of the total cargoes in the country. This is closely followed by Tin Can Island and Delta ports accounting for 31 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Calabar port accounts for 4.29 per cent. In the same year, out of 5,349 vessels berthed at seaports across the country, 1,692 berthed at Tin-Can Island port, 1,503 at Apapa port and 603, vessels called at Delta port.
In the same 2013, 287 vessels called at Rivers port, 605 at Onne ports and 109 at Calabar port. While in 2016, the container traffic provisional figure of NPA showed that Tin Can Island port received 179,443 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), while Apapa Port had 136,543 TEUs. Rivers port had 2,053TEUs, Onne had 44,961TEUs, and Delta had 1,961TEUs while Calabar recorded zero container traffic in 2016.
In the same year review, Apapa Customs Command realised over N299.9billion in its revenue generation from January to December 2016 while Tin-Can Island Customs command generated N256.4b in 2016 but Calabar Customs command that houses the Calabar port could only generate a paltry N5.8 billion for a whole year. In 2013 the Port Harcourt Area 11 of the customs Service generated N61bn while N69bn was generated in 2014.
Today, the Calabar port is empty, business was at a low ebb and most of the importers have deserted the ancient city to Lagos to make ends meet.
Why Eastern ports are empty
To a first time visitor, who perhaps has experienced the hustling and bustling of Western ports in Lagos with the attendants traffic logjam, he will probably wonder why there was a graveyard silence in the Eastern ports. When The Nation visited the Delta port in Warri, aside the good road network inside the empty ports, majority of the big warehouses which supposed to be a beehive of activities were under lock and key. Few security men were on ground and most of the infrastructure on ground was obsolete with a sign that it has not been put to use for many years. The rail track that linked up Warri port to Kano has become a mere monument.
The situation at Calabar was worst. Nothing on the ground suggests that there has ever been a business activity in the vicinity. Majority of the big ware houses that littered the port was locked up.
Speaking in his office along port road, the President, Shippers Association of Cross River State, (SACRS), Mike Ogodo, lamented that the country is sick otherwise the government will not just abandon the huge economic potentials which Calabar port will bring if put to use.
Ogodo, who is an exporter of cocoa regrets that failure not to get a vessel to Calabar port has jeopardized his efforts to ship cocoa to Lagos, ditto to other exporters, majority of who were forced to relocate to Lagos.
Though Calabar port is shallow, making it impossible for big ships to operate unless the dredging which has been on-going is completed, he explained that it costs five times to even import any consignment and channel it through Calabar port.
“The challenge is not only dredging which the NPA is clamouring, beyond that the cost it takes for doing business in Lagos and Calabar port, is very wide. No sane business man will pick Calabar port. We are also into importation and we bring these equipment to Calabar port, to get a vessel to ship your equipment to Calabar, will take five months because it will get trans-shipment before it gets to Calabar, because there is no schedule vessel designated to come to Calabar.”
The cocoa merchant who conducted the reporter round his warehouse which can contain 10,000 tons of cocoa before shipment said the warehouse has been empty for seven years since the lull of business activities at the port.
According to him, he was forced to transport his cocoa by road to Lagos which is causing him a fortune. “Our production of cocoa in Ikom is about 50,000 tons per annum. It is a good business for vessel liner, but a trailer will take N350, 000 per load of 30,000 tons with attendant risks. There was a time a whole trailer of cocoa vanished on the road till today nobody could trace it. If you buy things in US and want it shipped to Lagos, it will take only a maximum of 10 days; this is a good business to an importer who needs his money to do other business, not the endless Calabar port.”
In an emotional laden voice, Ogodo recounted what he passed through when he transported his last consignment of cocoa to Lagos. “Can you believe that a small warehouse that housed my cocoa before it was taken to the port for few days cost me N45million whereas my own warehouse in Calabar has been idle for seven years. You can imagine how much I will be raking in if my own warehouse is also in Lagos?”
Corroborating Ogodo’s view, a top official of the Calabar Free Trade Zone who spoke on condition of anonymity lamented that goods destined for the zone as well as Tinapa have to berth in Onne in Rivers State for onward movement to Calabar, a situation he said creates several logistic problems for business.
He regretted that Calabar Port that is among the oldest in the country, which used to attract shipping lines was suddenly abandoned due to untenable excuses.
“It is obvious that majority of the importers are no longer in Calabar, they relocated to Lagos or Port Harcourt due to economic lull in the ancient city and the collapse of infrastructural amenities which can boost economic activities at the port.” he explained.
Speaking in the same vein, Chairman of the Cross River/Akwa Ibom States branch of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Elder Iniobong Jackson lamented that the abandonment of the Calabar port has brought economic activities to a zero level in the area.
Jackson, who is also a Calabar based industrialist and Chief Executive Officer of Jackson Devos Enterprise, condemned the pathetic situation of the port and the failure of the federal government in dredging the sea port which could have been a good alternative to Lagos port which is now terribly congested.
He said “You can see there is no traffic. You can stay from morning till night. We don’t make sales again. Basically it is actually the major problem we are having because what we really do is importation and this is known to be a free zone and most of our customers who come from other countries get embarrassed by customs. This is discouraging them from coming in to buy. We are expecting that the Calabar seaport should work, because when we import, we bring in goods from Onne in Rivers State, whereas Calabar is the final destination.”
If Ogodo is lamenting, Ikechukwu Alphonso, an exporter who is based in Warri is crying in silence. “My brother, I am crying in silence because if you know the amount of investment I have in Warri, which poor utilization of the port has rendered it cashless, you will pity me. All my warehouses are now empty and in recent times I have to give it to some churches so that the building will not just collapse one day.”
According to him, the poor operation at the port has equally affected his hospitality business as all his hotels are recording poor sales due to lack of patronage.
Alphonso who read a lot of political meanings to the abandonment of the eastern port pointed out that “it seems this is a well calculated attempt to make sure that all port business are done in Lagos, otherwise government should have provided a lasting solution to all these problems”
Security issue
If there is anything that has worked against the maximal use of the eastern ports, it is the lack of security. Virtually all the stake holders who have spoken to argued that insecurity in the eastern flank of the country cannot be wished away.
Alhaji Rasheed Ogunade, the terminal manager of BUA company, one of the companies that Onne port was given concession to lamented that it was not only risky to do business on eastern ports, it was too costly because of the activities of pirates and armed militants who see the water ways as their territory to make ‘cool’ money.
He lamented that poor parade of the sea on twenty four hour basis is a threat to any business in the area. He observed that between January and March 2018, 22 incidents of piracy were recorded on the sea where the cargoes were hijacked with impunity and the importers helpless.
He regrets that the marine police have no gun boat that is powerful to combat such a crime “importers cannot risk this type of a venture on a daily basis; that is why they have to take their goods through Lagos ports where it is safe and less expensive.”
He explained that any time his company wants to sail in any cargo, it hires the service of a gun boat at a cost of $30,000 to pilot the vessel to its final destination, adding that this is an additional cost which is difficult to sustain by any importer.
“The little business that is going on in Onne port is because it is oil and gas business. The company has the financial muscle to engage about four gun boats at a time to pilot their vessel to a safe abode any time. There are no pirates or any militant that can engage them on the sea with such a tight security. There is no vessel owner who can afford to hire a gun boat talk less of four at a time, this is the dilemma importers are facing.” he said
Pius Aman, the leader of NPA/shipping company group at Onne shares the same view noting that if the issue of security can be solved by government, Eastern ports will come to life again in terms of business activities, adding that as the situation stands, it is very risky for any importer to sail his goods to any of the eastern ports.
According to him, Onne port is one of the best in Africa, but the issue of security has chased away intending exporters who cannot risk their vessels to berth at there.
Perhaps at a crossroads as to why the situation in the eastern ports remains a riddle that refused to be solved, the current minister for transportation who incidentally comes from the Southsouth, Rotimi Amaechi, at a stakeholder meeting recently in Warri lamented the precarious situation he finds himself as ‘the son of the soil’
According to him “The reason why vessels will not come here is because you have what they call war insurance. War insurance means if I buy a good for N10,000 in Lagos, the same product will be sold for N20,000 in the Southsouth because they have paid extra cost on it. Are we the poorest people in this world? I insisted that we must come here, they didn’t want to come, they were afraid.”
The minister who hit the nail on the head told the gathering that “We are the problem, honestly. I am from the Niger Delta, you may not like what I will say, but I will not cheat Niger Delta, because first and foremost I’m from Ikwerre before I’m from Rivers State, I’m from Rivers State before I’m from Nigeria so charity must begin from home. As Minister from the Niger Delta, I should naturally make the sea ports from the Niger Delta work, isn’t it?”
He regretted that if everybody knew where the problems lies, why is it difficult for the people of the area to take the bull by the horns and assist the government to make the waterways a safe place “after all, ghosts are not the one operating as pirates on the sea, but our people”
Amaechi explained “Nobody hates Southsouth, when I was governor I was thinking so, then I was thinking that the Yoruba are deliberately trying to make sure that the Lagos port works as against the eastern ports, but when I got to the office the first thing I did was to ask for the solution for the eastern ports to work. I asked the Igbo, I asked the former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, why don’t this people want to import through Port Harcourt or the Warri ports, he gave me the same reason; it costs twice what it will take to import from Lagos, plus all the miscellaneous costs on the road, to import from Port Harcourt to Onitsha or Aba.”
The minister regretted that there are some powerful people from the area who did not want the problem solved because they are benefiting at the expense of the majority, he challenged all to work like a team and solve the problem once and for all.
“The truth must be told, we cannot continue to think that Nigeria can’t do without the Southsouth, we must on our own. Warri and Port Harcourt used to be like heaven, but today they look deserted, but we work back and the way to work back is to forget the federal government and start asking ourselves questions; are we poorer than Lagos people? Ok, leave Lagos. In the north there is no water, there are no ports, are we poorer than them? I go to Kano and I sleep in peace, why will I not in my home? We are our own problem in the Southsouth,” he said
Speaking on the myriads of problems confronting the NPA at this critical period, the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ibrahim Nosiru, explained that the NPA is working round the clock not only to decongest Western ports but to proffer lasting solution to the situation on ground.
He explained that the contract for the repair of the Apapa road had been approved and work will commence on it in earnest, nothing that clearing agents have been ordered to have a holding bay where their empty containers can be deposited. He added that the option of using Ikorodu terminal is underway and that importers can take their vessels there to off load.
Nosiru noted that dry ports have been sited in the six geo-political zones of the country. According to him, “if an importer wants his goods in Kaduna, for example, he only needs to tell us and the consignment will be ferried to Kaduna through rail, he will just go there to clear it.”
Though, The Nation found out that out of the said dry ports established, (Kano, Kaduna, Oyo, Imo and Onitsha) only that of Kaduna is operational.
Way Out
Aside the issue of security, which only government can provide a lasting solution to, Aman explained that in addition the issue of piloting the sea should not be left with the marine police and the navy but all the security agencies.
This according to him, will minimize collusion with the pirate by some bad eggs within the security circle. Aside this he advocates for urgent dialogue with the militants.
On how to tackle congestion at western ports, the Executive Secretary of the Shippers Council of Nigeria urged the government to take a deliberate action to address many challenges confronting the port system through consistent policies.
According to him, investors needed certainty and ease of doing business, which could be brought about by government intervention, especially in the gridlock at Apapa.
