Operators in the nation’s seaport have identified the passage of the National Transport Commission Bill (NTCB) into law as the enabler that would bring the necessary reforms and innovations that would spur sustainable growth in Nigerian ports.
Vicky Haastrup, chairman of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), who made this submission at the fourth edition of the Taiwo Afolabi Annual Maritime (TAAM) Conference held in Lagos at the weekend with the theme, ‘Innovation and Practical Reforms Towards Sustainable Growth in the Maritime Sector’, said that NTCB would serve as a boost that would put everyone in check.
“The port cannot be reformed if we do not have an enabling law in place. We need the National Transport Commission Bill to be passed to bring reforms and necessary innovations that the nation’s maritime industry needs at this critical time,” she said.
According to her, the government should see to it that NTCB was passed into law because it would moderate the way business is done at the
ports as well as the responsibilities of all players including government agencies, service providers and port users.
Taiwo Afolabi, vice chairman of SIFAX Group, said the Federal Government and it relevant agencies needs to fortify the nation’s coastal waters and maritime boundaries against maritime crimes.
According to him, piracy attacks on ships and various terminals had led many shipping lines to introduce war risk surcharges on consignments coming to Nigeria.
Afolabi, who was the chief host, said that the federal government policy of linking some of the ports to the national rail network meant that cargoes could be evacuated by rail to the hinterland from Apapa port. “Government initiative of moving cargos from the ports to the Inland Dry Ports and container freight stations is a development that must be seen to the end,” he said.
In his own keynote address, Hassan Bello, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NCS), said that infrastructural reform is very important to making transport system very efficient.
According to him, government must take the responsibility of providing infrastructure such as good roads, linkage of rail to the ports.
“We have to regulate the carriage of goods by land which means there must be liability insurance, responsibility of the owners of the transport and carriage. In the freight forwarding practice, we have called for consolidation, professionalism, for reforms in the trucking system, and the haulage system,” he said.
According to him, there is a need for Nigeria to have registered fleets that would pass all the tests, so that carriage of goods from the ports to the hinterland will be secured and fast because timely delivery of cargo is essential to the economy.
“What we have now in our ports are rickety trucks that break down all the way because there is no legislation to guide carriage of goods by land. Truckers must have a rest period, after six or eight hours of driving to reduce the rate of accidents caused by fatigue in our ports,” he said.
Bello pointed out that the Council did not want to see articulated vehicles being parked indiscriminately on the highway, adding that it is for this reason that the Council was promoting the Truck Transit Park project, which would be a whole village with many facilities.
