There is no end in sight to the perennial gridlock on the access road leading to the Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos as no fewer than 500,000 containers laden with raw materials belonging to manufacturing companies and traders are currently trapped at the port.
This is in spite of renewed efforts by the Federal Government to decongest the port access road.
Speaking during a closed-door meeting with select journalists in Lagos on Wednesday, the Managing Director of an international beverage company, who does not want his name in a print, told newsmen that his company has run out of the substrate used in manufacturing one of its soft drinks.
“We exhausted our stock and the container loads we imported arrived more than six weeks ago but have not been able to leave the port,” he said.
Also, various traders who imported goods to sell during the yuletide season have been caught in the traffic snare, as their commodities have been unable to leave the port. Many of such traders stand the risk of losing millions of naira if they are unable to sell the goods before Christmas.
Recall that Rotimi Ameachi, Minister of Transportation had last week inspected the Tin-Can Island Port access road in the company of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), Magdalene Ajani; Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council, Hassan Bello in an effort to find a solution to the gridlock, which has crippled cargo delivery at the nation’s second-busiest seaport.
Also, last Friday, Magdalene Ajani, Permanent Secretary, FMOT held a meeting with stakeholders in Lagos, outlining various measures to address the gridlock. The measures include the disbandment of the Presidential Task Team on Apapa Gridlock and the reconstitution of the traffic management system at the Tin-Can Port access road.
The Permanent Secretary also directed the contractor handling the repair of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway to reopen the road leading to the port to clear the gridlock. However, the contractor has failed to comply with the order five days after it was issued, while security operatives still mount toll points along the road to extort various sums of money from hapless truckers.
It was also discovered that as at Wednesday, there was still a long queue of trucks waiting to enter the port from Tin-Can Second Gate to Liverpool. The situation is not different from the Tin-Can First Gate to PTML and Coconut areas.
The development has also led to a sharp rise in haulage cost by truck drivers.
Emmanuel Onyeme, a clearing agent who operates at the Tin-Can Port, said despite the disbandment of the Presidential Task Team, the traffic situation still persists due to roadblocks mounted by security and traffic management officials as well as the failure of the government to open up the completed portion of the road as promised on Friday.
This, he said, has continued to hinder free movement and exit of cargoes from the port with Police officials and other security operatives still cashing in on the blockade created by the contractor, especially at night.
“Government needs to open the road. If you come to Tin-Can today, the containers that are exiting are not more than five and this is a terminal that has up to 300 and 400 containers to go out yet people are paying demurrages. Right now, the only solution to this problem is for the government to call the contractor to order. They need to open the roundabout at the Tin Can First Gate so that containers coming out, instead of exiting through the Second Gate, will take the express,” he said.
According to him, “Cost of transportation has remained the same. As at this morning, the cost of haulage form Tin Can to Ladipo is N1.7 million because the whole place is blocked.”
Segun Oduntan, Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Tin-Can Island Chapter, said there hasn’t been any respite on the road despite the Minister’s visit to the Tin Can Island Port last week.
He lamented the pain and frustration agents and importers are going through, especially those who have their goods trapped at the port as a result of the chaotic gridlock along the Tin-Can Port corridor.
“You need to see how importers and agents are crying, especially those who have goods that are trapped at the port with the high cost of demurrage. So what intervention has the minister made? They should just open the road,” he said.
