Following the reported danger of looming congestion in the nation’s port business due to the presence of overtime and abandoned containers, the management of APM Terminals Apapa has assured of its willingness to offer discount for longstanding containers in its ports.
According to a press statement titled, ‘A Call to Action as Container Volumes Rise,’ which was signed by the management and sent BusinessDay on Monday, APM Terminals urged customers with containers in this category to take advantage of the offer and take delivery of their containers.
The statement, which said that the terminal has recently experienced a substantial increase in volume of containers arriving through the seaports, further attributed the positive development to various government policies such as improvement in the implementation of Ease of Doing Business policy, the Agriculture Promotion Policy and closure of land borders.
“If these containers are not cleared by customers soon enough, this volume increase could lead to high yard density which could impact berthing of vessels resulting in vessel queues,” the statement said.
APM Terminals however said its anticipating further improvement in throughput ahead of Christmas and year end rush.
“We therefore urge all the relevant stakeholders and the wider port community to ensure timely delivery of containers in an effective manner without compromising government’s policies and procedures,” the statement said.
“We assure the shipping lines and our landside customers, that we are dedicating adequate resources despite the seasonal bad weather, working closely with the Port authority, other relevant agencies and stakeholders for improved terminal performance to ensure prompt cargo delivery after release by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS),” the statement further said.
Recall that BusinessDay on Monday reported that the expected gains of the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business policy is presently being put into jeopardy as over 5,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of overtime and abandoned containers continued to pile up in Apapa, Tin-Can Island and Onne Ports.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
