The volume of import cargo handled in the nation’s premier port, Apapa, stood at about 1,442,832 million metric tonnes in the month of August, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) operational report stated.
According to the report, ship traffic at Apapa Port in the month of August stands at about 90 ship calls with Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 2,601,185 million metric tonnes.
Also, about 14 service boats with GRT of 29,149 metric tonnes and about 51,396 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of containerised cargoes were also handled at the port within the period under review.
In terms of vehicular traffic, the number of vehicles received in Apapa Port within the period stands at 94 units.
Presenting Apapa Port Operational report at a stakeholders’ meeting held in Apapa recently, Funmilayo Olotu, Port manager of Lagos Port Complex (LPC), said the piling up of overtime cargo and traffic gridlock around Apapa Port environment have been the major challenges facing users of port services.
“For overtime cargo, we are recording high volume of overtime cargoes such that at APM Terminals, the number of overtime containers presently stands at 2,259 boxes, which is about 3,000 TEUs,” she said.
She further said that ENL terminal has huge cargo dwell time because of the project cargoes for the Lekki Deep Seaport that is yet to be evacuated from the port.
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According to her, if the terminal is occupied with a high volume of overtime and abandoned containers, it would be difficult for boxes in laden vessels to be stacked at the terminal due to lack of space.
Olotu further stated that Apapa traffic, which is compounded by the ongoing road repairs around Apapa, was the major problem facing port users.
She said the Federal Ministry of Works has closed areas like Point Road due to the construction work, and is affecting port operations.
“The ministry once asked for 28 days to shutdown the Tin-Can Island transit parks. This will have serious implications but they have agreed to carry out some palliative measures on the road to ease cargo movement,” she said.
Olotu, who noted that the NPA has received complaint that Lilypond Transit Park is deliberately circumvented; said truckers recently demonstrated and insisted that their trucks must be allowed to move out of Lilypond into the port.
