The Trucks Transit Parks (TTP) Limited said it is perfecting arrangements to bring the petroleum product lifting tankers onboard electronic call-up system known as Eto App, used for controlling movement of trucks in and out Apapa.
TTP, which is the private technological firm partnering with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to deploy the electronic call-up system, has identified the inability of the oil and gas trailers to onboard Eto platform as one of the major challenges limiting the efficiency of the electronic call-up in the Tin-Can Island area of the port.
BusinessDay understands that onboard of oil and gas trailers on Eto platform will kill extortion completely because gridlock will be eliminated.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos last week, Temidayo Adeboye, chief operating officer of TTP, said that about 30 percent of daily truck traffic in Apapa is constituted by oil and gas tankers, according to the Apapa Traffic Demographics Study carried out.
To him, oil and gas trucks can be divided into major marketers and independent marketers adding that there are six major marketers and 2,000 independent marketers.
Adeboye however pointed out that the major marketers have all the infrastructures that it will take to onboard Eto platform, and they include trailer parks, pre-gate facility, and access control. He added that these infrastructures can make it possible for major oil marketers to onboard Eto in just one week.
Read also: Apapa: Container transport cost down 60% on call-up system – TTP
Giving insight into some of the issues that limit the oil and gas tankers from onboard of Eto, he said that the marketers have Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) template, which only pertains to petrol because it is the only product that is subsidised.
“In the PPRA template, all the cost for the oil marketers are represented and the cost for onboard of Eto is not there, and who bears the cost of onboard Eto? To enable oil and gas tankers to onboard Eto platform means that there is need to go back to PPRA to adjust the template of the oil marketers to include the cost of onboard of Eto,” he explains.
While pointing out that it will be easier to cover the cost if the sector is fully deregulated, Adeboye said the oil and gas tanker unions have been able to apportion dates, time and days to each marketer to minimise the gridlock associated with moving at the same time.
TTP in partnership with the NPA deployed the electronic call-up system for organising, scheduling, and batching trucks into Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports on 27 February 2021.
Interestingly, the system has been able to bring sanity in Apapa axis of the port city, but yet to become fully effective in Tin-Can due to not having oil and gas tankers onboard and the ongoing construction of roads.
