Hassan Bello, executive secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), said during an interview in Lagos recently that the Council, in conjunction with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), is partnering World Bank to finding a sustainable solution to the persistent traffic in Apapa by introducing a modern traffic management system.
According to Bello, the traffic management strategy will include reviving the truck holding bay, transformation of NPA gate into a modern gate and ensuring that only trucks that have business in the port are allowed to be around Apapa.
“We discover that about 5,000 trucks come to Apapa ports every day, but it is only about 1,500 trucks that are needed to do daily transaction in the port. Then, why are the other 3,500 in the port environment? Therefore, trucks must have business to be allowed to come into the port,” the NSC boss said.
The traffic management system, Bello said, would ensure that trucking companies re-fleet because cargo carriage is a very serious business that requires healthy trucks to embark on and not relying on rickety trucks.
“There must be restructuring and reform in the trucking business. A trucker must have a company with a minimum of six sound trucks to operate in the port, and we are currently talking with Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) and all other trucking associations to find the best possible way to achieve this,” he said.
Bello, who believed that time had come for government to take action that would address the situation in Apapa, said the ports in Apapa had reached their capacity such that there was need for modern port.
“There must be some action on traffic management. The port must be linked with multi-modal transportation system that includes rail and waterways because shipping and port business are global, and world standard must be adopted to solve a lot of problem,” he pointed out.
On controversial tariff collected from shippers by service providers, the Shippers’ Council boss insisted that tariff must be tied to service, because service providers cannot be allowed to charge shippers for services not rendered. “Nobody says that tariff must be static, tariff can sometimes rise or drop but there must be some kind of negotiation between the service provider, regulator and shippers. Tariff is important to competition and Nigerian port is designed to be competitive because unless you have competition, there may be a risk of private monopoly, and we have to be efficient and effective to compete among the West African ports,” he said.
