The crisis in the nation’s sea ports appeared to be worsening by the day as some importers’ efforts to get their containers cleared from the ports in Lagos were hampered, thereby causing serious commotion at the ports. Owing to the congestion, vessels waiting to berth cannot access the ports for the discharge of cargoes.

Daily Trust learnt that some vessels have arrived Lagos anchorage over one month ago but cannot find space to berth. Lamenting the problems created by the congestion, the General Manager, PTML Terminal, Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, Tunde Keshinro, disclosed that overtime cargo abandoned at the terminal since 2016 had taken up more than 30 percent of commercial space in the terminal.

He explained that the ugly situation was accentuated mainly by the inability of the Nigeria Customs Service to auction them. The industry expert made the disclosure when a team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by its Mission Chief to Nigeria, Amine Mati, visited the terminal weekend.

He explained: “Since 2016, we have been struggling with 30 percent of our space locked up under abandoned cargo because Customs is not auctioning and that is a serious concern for us no matter the capacity we have. “I am a terminal operator and what I sell is my space. How quick and fast I’m able to turn around my space determines the profitability of the business. So when certain portion of the space is locked up, that already will limit the productivity it can take.

“However, within these constraints, the vessels are regularly coming in, they don’t delay outside and we are able to deliver within acceptable framework for the ship owner,” Keshinro added. The PTML Terminal General Manager said the absence of clearing agents and failure to take delivery of cargoes during the weekend was also affecting operations at the terminal. He said, “We deploy online payments, the Customs also deploy online payments, but it is not all the banks that are giving this value of online payments, these are areas that the banks need to expand.

“If you go to the examination bay on Saturday, nothing is happening. If I am discharging on Saturday and there is no opportunity to do further activities on the cargo, I am going to get it locked down till Monday or Tuesday and there is going to be an imbalance. We want the other agencies to work in the real sense of 24 hours operations, not just on paper”, Keshinro added.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/ports-congestion-worsens-as-overtime-cargo-hampers-operations.html