By Success Okezie
Vice-chairman, Dry Cargo Unit of Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Lagos State branch, Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed Inuwa has said that the reason why Lagos port access road gridlock has subsisted is because the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) lacks the political will and power to mandate Shipping companies and Terminal operators to provide holding bays for receiving empty containers despite sanctions and series of directives given by the government.
According to him, it was agreed after several stakeholder meetings that only shipping companies are mandated to bring empty containers from the holding bays into the port as against cargo owners and agents who are presently returning empty containers directly to the ports.
Inuwa noted that the port regulators cannot be exempted from blame on the current situation at the port for their failure to ensure that shipping companies and terminal operators provide holding bays, adding “it appears the shipping companies and terminal operators have no regard for the law of the federal government of Nigeria.”
He noted that the companies must be made to act in accordance with the law and that the issue of empty containers should be taken with great concern.
The NARTO vice-chairmaN also said that although four Shipping companies such as Maerskline, Cosco and two others were sanctioned by the government, they have yet to put holding bays in place after the review of the initial 10 day suspension.
“Meanwhile, the government is still tolerating them and without withdrawing their licenses. The review of the 10 day suspension by Nigerian port Authority (NPA) has not yielded fruitful result as shipping companies are still proving stubborn and sounded as if they are above the law.
“The visit of the vice-president, Yemi Osibanjo has exposed shady deals of shipping companies. For example, Fano Bonded Terminal which was engaged by Maerskline Shipping Company to receive empty containers was forced to open based on the directive of the vice-president in order to clear articulated trucks and tankers from the road.
“Before the vice president’s visit, Fano Bonded Terminal which was hired by Maerskline to receive their empty containers or serve as their empty container holding bay was under lock and key while more than 100 trucks were loitering along Oshodi/Expressway, covering the service lane and causing heavy traffic gridlock.
“By the time the security operatives, led by the deputy commissioner of police in-charge of operation, Lagos State police command, on instruction forcefully opened Fano Bounded Terminal, it was discovered that there was a large space which can accommodate about 3,000 empty containers. It was surprising to know during the exercise that about 300 trucks were evacuated from the road and were parked inside the Fano Bounded Terminal,” Inuwa revealed.
He noted that the strategy of dilly dallying by Maerskline was done as a way to frustrate truckers, clearing agents and consignees in order to extort money by way of collecting demurrage for not returning the empty containers within the grace period.
He commended Sifax and Grimaldi shipping companies for making good effort in providing holding bays for the trucks.
At the stakeholders’ interactive meeting with the vice-president Osibanjo during his second visit at NNS Beecroft, Western Naval command, he promised that the contract work will soon commence in earnest, but Inuwa remarked, “We have experience in the past when such declaration is made and at the end of the day there is nothing to show for it.
He commended the effort of Commodore Eyo who championed and presented the challenges of the truckers before the vice-president. He equally praised the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode’s effort to ensure that sanity is restored within Apapa and its environs.
Pix:Traffic gridlock on Lagos port access road, Apapa
