• No cause for alarm, say terminal operators
Over 10,000 containers are trapped at the Lagos ports, making congestion imminent.
The containers got trapped because of the inability of the terminal operators to cope, importers said.
The terminal operators, it was learnt, cannot position for scanning more than 200 of the 5,000 containers that arrive at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports in Lagos daily.
The operators, however, say they have the capacity to position over 1,000 containers for scanning daily, adding that they are doing 200 because of an agreement with Customs.
They are blaming the problem on lack of equipment, sources said.
The spokesman of the importers, Mr Folagbade Mosaku, claimed that the operators are asking them to pay for their self-inflicted problems.
Investigation by The Nation showed that over 100 importers and their clearing agents met secretly in Lagos last Friday to strategise on how to shut down the port over what they called the ineptitude of some operators.
The importers and their clearing agents alleged that in some terminals they are compelled to pay arbitrary charges that are not part of the agreement the operators signed with the Federal Government through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
When The Nation visited Apapa port last Friday, many trailers were kept on the highways and the port access roads because of the operators’ inability to load and off load containers.
The government, port security sources said, must find out why the operators can only position more than 200 containers for scanning daily despite the large number of containers shipped into the country.
From the beginning of this month, over 6,000 of the 10,000 containers have been trapped at the Apapa port. The importers are also compelled to pay N1,500 as storage fee on each of the containers for the first seven days after arrival.
At the expiration of the seven days, importers pay N3,000 on each container daily and after 14 days, they pay N9,000 as storage fee for the 20-foot container and N12,000 for the 40-foot container.
Some agents accused the operators of asking them to pay storage fee for the number of days they had to wait before their containers are positioned for examination.
The charges, the agents said, are inimical to their business.
The Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Apapa chapter, Mr Olumide Fakanlu, said the number of containers the operators position for scanning is worrisome.
The operators, Fakunbi said, disappoint customers when it comes to effective service delivery. He urged the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to call them to order.
Over 60 per cent of shippers, whose goods arrived at the Lagos Ports between January and last week, he said, had paid over N1 billion for the delay that arose from the positioning of their containers for scanning.
He warned that unless the government addresses the problem, the congestion will persist.
But the image maker of the APM Terminals, Mr Bolaji Akinola, denied the allegation.
He said the terminals had invested billions of naira on equipment to position over 1,000 containers daily.
His words: “APMT has the capacity to position much more than 200 containers daily. The 200 we position daily is the quantity jointly agreed between Customs and APMT.”
Akinola added that APMT is also increasing its container stacking area at Apapa by additional 300,000 square metres. The company, he said, would soon take delivery of the first batch of five Rubber-Tyred-Gantry (RTG) cranes it ordered from Kone Cranes as part of terminal yard redevelopment and expansion.
