In less than one month, haulage charges from Apapa Port to importers’ warehouses in Lagos have risen by 100 percent due to the interminable congestion that has made cargo evacuation nearly impossible.
Currently, haulage charge on a 40-foot containers from Apapa Port to a warehouse in Lagos has risen to N700,000 from an average of N350,000 paid two weeks ago, representing a 100 percent jump over the period.
Businesses are paying as much as N450,000 to move one 20-foot container to a warehouse in Lagos from between N200,000 and N250,000 charged two weeks ago.
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“It took three days to load one 40-foot container at Apapa Port last week,” Tony Anakebe, a Customs licensed agent, told BusinessDay.
“I paid N700,000 to move a 40-foot container from Apapa Port to a warehouse in Mushin, which used to be between N300,000 and N400,000 two weeks ago.
“If the situation continues, we will likely load a 40-foot container from Apapa Port to warehouses in Lagos for N1 million, just like we did at Tin-Can Island Port before Eto came onboard three years ago,” Anakebe added.
With freight forwarders spending days to evacuate containers already released by Customs, businesses are losing money to demurrage and storage charges due to the congestion delays.
It now appears that this is a pre-Eto call-up system era. Before the introduction of the Eto call-up system for batching trucks in port in 2021, evacuating laden and export containers in and out of the port used to be a hard nut to crack due to the incessant congestions on the port access roads.
This ate into the wallets of importers who paid premiums to transport cargoes, losing billions of naira to demurrage and storage charges for delays in taking delivery of their consignments.
Anakebe confirmed that truckers are complaining that they are not being issued call-up tickets at the Lilypond pre-gate at Ijora, which allows trucks to access the port and take delivery of goods released by Customs.
Bala Mohammed, a trucker, confirmed that importers now pay N700,000 to move a 40-foot container from Apapa to Ikeja in Lagos.
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He blamed the development on delays from terminals within Apapa Port, which, on different occasions, have forced managers of the call-up system to slow the number of trucks released from pre-gates.
Meanwhile, Jama Onwubuariri, managing director of the Trucks Transit Parks Ltd, operator of Eto call-up for truck batching, told BusinessDay that his firm’s role is to manage port access by optimising truck movement into the port.
He said the company does not manage the operations within port terminals.
“Any inefficiency, including delays at specific terminals, falls within the responsibility of the terminal operators,” he said.
He assured that TTP is committed to working alongside operators and relevant authorities to support terminal efficiency and align operations to ensure smooth traffic management.
On the part of APM Terminals, operator of Apapa Container Terminal, Kayode Olufemi Daniels, head of Commercial, said at a recent stakeholders’ meeting on the workings of Eto that a deeper understanding of the system’s processes would help reduce operational complaints and alleviate congestion on port access roads.
Daniels clarified that delays are often attributed to the terminal operator, whereas enforcement practices play a more significant role in reality.
“Our goal is to create a transparent and accessible process that works seamlessly for everyone involved in the port ecosystem,” Daniels further said.
He noted that when customers know how to navigate the system, they can avoid unnecessary delays, reduce frustration, and contribute to a more organised flow of trucks into the terminal.
Apart from the delays in issuing Eto call-up tickets to truckers and their ability to access the port, many other factors are also working against the ease of doing business at the port today.
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According to Anakebe, earlier quoted, services of agencies like the Nigeria Customs and the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are antithetical to the ease of doing business.
“Recently, NDLEA blocked my container of medicals from leaving the port after it was released by Customs. They have no right to impound containers released by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),” he added.
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