Apapa Gridlock

In the last one week, haulage costs have risen as gridlock on the access roads leading to Tin-Can Island Port (TCIP), Lagos worsened. Owners of haulage vehicles hiked freight cost from N1.2 million to N1.8 million (50%), for hauling a container to any other part of Lagos.

The shooting up of the cost of importation of goods was mainly because of the activities of touts who allegedly work in tandem with security agents. The touts extort fees along the port route. It is feared that if the touts continue hiking fees, freight cost could rise to over N2 million before the year ends.

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Because of their penchant for stopping haulage vehicles to collect illegal fees, long stretches of vehicles are the norm. With this, over 40 ships are at anchorage at the port due to lack of space to discharge new cargoes at terminals as cargo evacuation is hampered by the multiple toll points mounted by security operatives and Presidential Task Force (PTF) members.

Truck drivers allege that they pay over N200,000 per truck at the checkpoints illegally erected on the port access roads.

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) had earlier threatened to embark on strike over the suffering its members are subjected to as a result of the gridlock. But following pacification by the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the planned strike was suspended.

The effect of the excruciating gridlock, according to the Managing Director of Port & Cargo Handling Services, John Jenkins, is that with the over 40 vessels at anchorage, they could only bring in seven. Because of this, vessels could not discharge for four days and this month, vessels are staying two days already because there is no space for the containers.

The gridlock is simply because the PTF has failed in its duties, with many accusing it of complicity in the extortions. For an agency established to decongest the port access roads, it has allowed four roadblocks along the same routes.

The activities of the PTF are such that both the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the House of Representatives have called for its disbandment over the gridlock.

In fact, the House accused the PTF team, comprising NPA security department and police of running extortion rings as they collect as much as between N250,000 to N280,000 per truck for entry and exit to the ports.

The intriguing thing is that the NPA does not acknowledge the existence of these extortion rings. And it has proved incapable of ending the extortion and gridlock.

But Minister of Transportation, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, said the ministry was worried over the unending gridlock, stating that 200 operatives of the Nigeria Police would be deployed to the port to clear the gridlock on the route and enforce compliance on trucks not being allowed to park on the road.

Amaechi said, during a meeting with Maritime Stakeholders and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) in Lagos, he was constituting a steering committee, headed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, which will meet monthly with representatives of the NPA, Shippers Council, MWUN, Road Safety and the Lagos State government.

However, for the new team to meet its expected goals, the PTF must be disbanded immediately. Its failure is embarrassing and as such, all members of the task force should be transferred out of Lagos, away from port areas.

Most importantly, the Eastern ports of Warri, Onne, Port Harcourt and Calabar must become operational immediately. This will decongest the Tin-Can Port as cargoes headed to Aba, Onitsha, Nnewi and Port Harcourt would be cleared from there.

So, the mandate of the new team should be succinct: Clear the gridlock, sustain easy access to the port and stop illegal extortion from truck drivers and other port users. The Apapa Port must be saved from gridlock and extortionists.