Lekki Port, Nigeria’s first deep seaport started operations in the first half of 2023 with several doubts running through the minds of port users.
This was centred on how containers could be effectively evacuated from the new port through the Lekki-Epe Expressway without a repeat of the Apapa traffic menace.
Ease of cargo evacuation is a major indicator of an efficient seaport because it greatly affects the cost of doing business at the port.
In a port like Apapa and Tin-Can Island where about 90 percent of export and import cargo are moved via road, the access road to the port is usually clogged and businesses face delays leading to high costs of doing business ranging from payment of demurrage and storage charges to shipping companies and terminal operators.
To prevent such a scenario in the new port, the Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) initially relied on barges to move containers out of the port to reduce dependence on the road.
“We service barges that are approved by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime and Administrative and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and also abide by the safety protocol of the port,” said a source close to Lekki Freeport, the terminal operator, who does not want his name on the print.
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Road network
As the Federal Government concludes talks with prospective investors on the possibility of connecting Lekki Port via railway, the good news about the deep seaport is the fact that the government has opened several road networks connecting the port to the hinterland.
Currently, there is three major access to the port including Ijebu-Ode-Epe-Eleko Junction-Coastal Road; Lekki/Ajah-Epe Expressway and Epe-Itoikin-Ikorodu Road.
This means that aside from the popular Lekki/Ajah-Epe Expressway through Eleko Junction-Coastal Road-Lekki Port, users can move their containers to the hinterland through other alternative routes that offer less travel time and seamless cargo evacuation.
For instance, importers in Lagos can access the port through Berger-Ijebu-Ode-Itoikin-Epe Road, which is a state-of-the-art and well-built road network that can support cargo evacuation from the port without the laden container encountering delays on the journey to the importers’ warehouses.
“It took me less than three hours to reach a warehouse in Ikeja from Lekki Port last week because I followed the Berger-Ijebu-Ode-Epe Road, which is usually free after the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway,” said Kazeem Banjo, a truck driver.
Meanwhile, manufacturers and importers situated along the Ikorodu area of Lagos can also access the port through the Epe-Itoikin-Ikorodu Road.
However, the road requires some measures of repair work to be done along the Imota and Itoikin axis of the road. Still, port users can move their goods without having to go through Berger-Ijebu-Ode or Lekki-Epe Road.
Also, businesses outside Lagos including the South-east and the North can use the Ijebu-Ode-Epe Road, which is presently in an excellent state to evacuate their goods.
The discovery of these multiple road networks has given respite and proven doubters wrong, who had on several occasions expressed worry that the full operations of Lekki Port and Dangote Refinery combined with the businesses of other manufacturers located in the Lagos Free Zone will become a repeat of Apapa gridlock menace.
BusinessDay’s recent visit to the port shows that the Oke-Oso-Itoikin Road to Araga-Poka Road has been completed and opened to motorists.
Another access to the Lekki Deep Seaport is the Itoikin to Ijebu-Ode Expressway, which was recently upgraded, and construction work has since been completed on the road.
In addition, the government has also completed construction works on the Epe to Ijebu-Ode Expressway to support the import and export business at the new port.
Also, the dualisation of the Lekki-Epe Road from Ibeju-Agbe to T-Junction in Epe has witnessed significant progress as the work is now 95 percent completed, according to information made available to BusinessDay.
The expansion of the Lekki-Epe Expressway from Ajah to Eleko Junction has also witnessed significant improvement. Information shows that the road construction handled by Craneburg Construction has since passed the Sangotedo axis and is now headed towards Ajah.
Also, the construction of the Coastal Road from Eleko Junction to LFZ, which is 23km has recorded serious improvement with HITECH Construction pushing the work far away from the Lekki Port and Dangote Refinery axis.
Ude Amobi, safety personnel at the Hitech construction site, told our reporter during a visit to the project site earlier in October that the construction of Coastal Road started from 7km before the Lekki Port and is heading to Eleko Junction.
He said the casting of concrete pavement is at about 20cm and that the construction of the 6-lane road started in 2022.
Confirming this, Akin-George Fashola, head of the directorate at Vehicle Inspection Service, said in a recent forum that the Lagos State Government is concluding works on the Lekki Coastal Road, which would soon be completed to support the operations of Lekki Deep Seaport and Dangote Refinery.
Read also: Lekki port struggles to gain traction amidst economic headwinds
Truck Park
To ensure trucks don’t park indiscriminately on the port road, the management of Lekki Port built a truck park with a capacity to accommodate 157 trucks at a go. The idea is to ensure that there is no access restriction or blockage on the road leading to the port and that truck turnaround at the new port is about 20 to 23 minutes.
The truck park and the deployment of a vehicle booking system ensure that trucks don’t sit on both the park and the port access road, thereby enabling a quick truck turnaround.
Truck Park and the vehicle booking system have ensured that the challenges associated with the loss of man-hours in traffic congestion and delays in port operations are eliminated, said Emma Nwabunwanne, a Lagos-based importer.
He commended the management of the port and expressed optimism that cargo movement will continue to get a lot better with the connection of the port to the railway by the Federal Government.
