Collaboration among players will enhance service delivery at ports, says TICT chief

Strong cooperation among operators in the supply chain business, especially at the seaports, in Africa will help in enhancing efficient service delivery, says Yehuda Kotik, managing director, Tin-Can Island Container Terminal (TICT). He said this while presenting a paper on ‘Ports and Infrastructure Development in African Ports’ at the just concluded 12th Intermodal Africa 2014 exhibition and conference held in Lagos.

Listing Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), terminal operators, truck operators and others as critical stakeholders in the seaport service delivery chain, the TICT boss emphasised that NPA, which is saddled with the responsibility of controlling port gates and maintaining the ports, must do its job, while terminal operators must provide sufficient cargo handling equipment, internal roads and computerised gates.

He further noted that basic infrastructure, such as good road networks, effective rail system and the trucks used in delivering cargoes to their destination, must be in good shape to enhance quality of service delivery because poor infrastructural development affects effective service delivery.

Kotik also charged agencies in the ports, such as Customs, Immigration and other relevant operatives, to work round-the-clock to achieve quick turnaround time of vessels and delivery of cargoes.