Presidential Task Team Identifies Lack of Data, Rivalries Among Terminal Operators, Truckers for Apapa Ports Gridlock
• Issue gridlock will end finally in March 2020 with rail links, assures Bello
• League President: Automation, massive truck parks are solutions to gridlock
By Francis Ugwoke
The gridlock on the access roads leading to the Apapa ports has been blamed on lack of data on trucks operating at the ports and planning by terminal operators.
Vice- Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Ports, Mr Kayode Opeifa said the absence of data of the number of trucks operating at the ports was a major issue that has impacted negatively on the efficiency of ports operations in Lagos.
Speaking during the one day seminar organized by the League of Maritime Editors and Publishers with the theme “Sustainability of the Lagos Ports Access Road Decongestion: Lasting Solutions”, Opeifa also identified rivalry among the terminal operators and the truck drivers as part of the problems causing the gridlock.
Arguing that his Task Team has done well in addressing the issue of gridlock in the Lagos ports, he however pointed out that the major task the Team has faced was finding data from the terminal operators, adding that this was important for proper planning.
He added that what was surprising was that those who have data never wanted to release them.
Opeifa equally said the competition between the terminal operators, including truck drivers has remained a major issue in the gridlock being suffered at Apapa ports area.
He said, “The bane of the traffic gridlock is that there is no data. Those who have data aren’t willing to share it, while others don’t have this data. When people say there has been no improvement in the traffic situation, they may be wrong if the claim isn’t backed with data.”
“You need data to be able to measure performance and verify if things are getting better or worse. You need data to know the number of trucks transiting the route on daily basis. You need data to know the category of trucks that enter the ports and terminals. This data would also help in planning the call-up system and input into technology.”
“We have about six terminals at Apapa and Tin Can port environs doing the same business. For instance, in order to access Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL), you take the same route that leads to AP Moller and they both deal in the same products. BUA, Honeywell, Dangote are also competitors but the competition ought to be in the market and not at the ports.
“You see their truckers struggling to get ahead of each other and in doing that they shortchange the system. You find someone who ought to be at the port by 12noon comes in before 10am and obstructs someone who has consignment to pick by 11am. There is only one entrance to the ports so this becomes a huge challenge. Sometimes GDNL truckers want to access the terminal but it is blocked by AP Moller and it could be the other way too. There shouldn’t be rivalry, at least, not at the ports because the market is huge enough to take their products.”
The General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Eng. Jatto Adams, in his contribution said the only solution to the gridlock was to introduce intermodal transport system.
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Jatto said what is required was simply a technologically driven solution which include a combination of waterways, rail and piping.
He added that even the truck drivers have to embrace technology through electronic call system to have an efficient system.
But he said the call up system has to be managed by private operators, adding that in doing so the duty of the NPA was to ensure that only trucks which have business at the ports are given access.
He recalled that though the NPA had promised to introduce a call up system for trucks, but apologized that the management has since realized that this should be handled by private operators.
According to him, “People have to understand that there would be no lasting solution to the problem of port access roads until the alternatives which include railway, waterways and piping are optimal. The trucking system also has to be technologically driven which brings us to the electronic call-up system”
“We should have truck parks far from the ports and be able to call them electronically into the ports. This electronic truck call-up system is something that NPA is pushing for. However, discussions are ongoing with Ogun State and Lagos State to have large portions of land available.”
“We believe that this process would solve the problem and we are open to receive the private sector investments and interested parties in this. In 2020, we are looking forward to having more efficient ports which functional single window and electronic call-up systems because that is the best way to have efficiency. Gridlock should be a thing of the past and this is achievable in 2020 with the massive development of the railways and the re-construction of the roads”.
The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Mr Hassan Bello who chaired the occasion said that the Presidential Task Force had done well by not allowing congestion in the various terminals to affect the access roads.
Bello was of the view that with 97 percent occupancy rate inside the ports, the Task Team has done a good job.
The NSC CEO also said what has affected the ports leading to congestion was lack of planning, including a 2.5 percent growth annual population in the country considering that the ports were constructed between 1950 and ‘70s.
According to him, access roads need to have been expanded in view of population and volume of traffic.
But Bello added that all hope was not lost considering federal government’s efforts to connect the ports with rails.
He expressed optimism that by March 2020, Apapa port, Lillypond Transit Park in Ijora would all have been linked with rails.
According to him, this will automatically ease carriage of goods in the ports.
In his welcome address, the President of League, Mr Kingsley Anaroke, stressed the need for automation as the solution to the gridlock.
Anaroke also said that besides automation, government should identify all those that have benefitting from the gridlock and deal with them.
He equally called for a truck park that is big enough to take between 30,000 and 50,000 trucks.
He added that government must be fast in addressing the issue of congestion because of its negative effect on business and life of residents in Apapa.
According to him, “It is time to know those behind this problem, identify them and arrest them. It doesn’t matter if it is an agency, organization or an individual. We have to crush them. If it costs N1 billion to crush the tank farms on this axis to address this problem, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is to solve the problem so that things can function optimally at the ports.
“There is need for automation. It is time to have the political will. There are over forty holding bays in the Lagos port area. How much automation has been deployed in these facilities? Does one operator know what the other person is doing? Are these facilities synchronized?
“If we have any intervention, it has to be immediate and concrete. Ultimately, what we are emphasizing is automation to reduce opportunities for human contact in the system. This would reduce corruption and other ills.”
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