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Nigeria’s largest container terminal, APM Terminals Apapa handled a little above 8.1 million twenty equivalent units (TEU) of containers in the past 15 years.
Terminal Manager of APM Terminals Apapa, Steen Knudsen, said container volumes at the terminal have increased by an average of 23 percent annually over the past five years.
“We handled 8,134, 847 TEUs of containers since 2006 and more than 650,000 TEUs per year in 2020 and 2021 – the majority of that being import volume. Over the last years we have managed to grow the business extensively by 23 percent per annum on average. We are continuously making our terminal operations more efficient,” he said.
“While there is a compelling need to reduce the dwell time of containers at the terminal, there are several factors – most of them beyond the control of a terminal operator – that make it possible for consignees to keep their containers at the terminals for a long period of time. As a terminal, we are interested in ensuring that dwell time remains as low as possible. However, there are processes in place that we are not in direct control of. These include customs clearing processes and related processes of other government agencies such as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and so on. These agencies all have to approve the movement of cargo out of the port. The more in harmony this process can work, the faster the cargo can move through the terminal to reduce cost to the importers.”
