In response to the recent increase in the waiting time of vessels calling at the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said it will from Monday January 27, 2020, begin to divert vessels that have waited for long to berth at any terminal within the Lagos Pilotage District, to other terminals with capacity to berth vessels within the district.
Jatto Adams, general manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications of NPA said in a statement that was sent to BusinessDay, the authority has met with shipping companies and terminal operators, and has arrived at decisions aimed at immediately resolving the congestion in the Lagos Pilotage District.
“In the event that all terminals in Lagos cannot discharge any vessels within four days, such vessels will be diverted to the Eastern Ports (other pilotage districts) for immediate berthing,” said Adams.
According to him, the Authority will liaise with other relevant government agencies on behalf of stakeholders to expedite the clearance of vessels and cargoes, where necessary.
“These actions have been taken to promote the Ease of Doing Business Policy of the Federal Government and curtail the negative economic impact that the long turnaround time of vessels has on stakeholders,” he stated.
Recall that shipping companies such as Hapag-Lloyd and others have raised alarm over the latest congestion situation at the Port of Lagos, which has created cost and delays for the shipping lines and their customers.
According to Hapag-Lloyd, current waiting times for berth in APMT terminal (Apapa) is more than 20 days, while for TICT terminal (Tin-Can Island) it exceeds 10 days.
“These operational delays heavily affect its two services, MIAX and MWX, which contain both terminals in their long-term schedules. In order to overcome this challenge and to minimize the negative effect on all of our Customers using these services, we are continuously evaluating the situation and taking schedule integrity measures for each vessel approaching Port of Lagos,” Hapag-Lloyd states.
According to the announcement, in case a decision is made to omit APM Terminal, the cargo would be discharged at TICT terminal and further transferred to Kribi Containers Terminal (KCT), by dedicated barge service on Hapag-Lloyd account and arrangement, where Custom clearance of Apapa cargo is possible (this is in particular occurring on MIAX service).
“We continue to work on long term solutions to provide more stability and service reliability for our Customers in managing their supply chains through Port of Lagos,” Hapag-Lloyd adds.\
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
