Lagos ports operating below capacity –STOAN

Steve Agbota

The Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) says, contrary to widely held notion, the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, and the Tin Can Island Port Complex are not congested. 

In a statement issued at the weekend, STOAN said both ports are operating at less than 70 per cent capacity.  The association said the major challenges facing the ports are the road access, which has become severely dilapidated.

STOAN Spokesman, Bolaji Akinola, who issued the statement said: “It is important to correct the understanding of the public about the ports. The hinterland infrastructure leading to the ports in Lagos, namely the roads, are at breaking points. The ports are not congested and are not at breaking points.

“Most of the terminals in the two ports are operating below capacity. The busiest terminals are operating at less than 70 per cent at the yard and 60 per at berth. So, there is no port congestion anywhere as of today.”

Akinola said the ports in Lagos have capacity to handle beyond the volume of cargo they are handling at the moment if government pays attention to the issue of dilapidated port access roads as well as put an end to the manual handling of cargo clearing processes deployed by the Nigeria Customs Service.  He said port operation is not about the size of the port only, but about the efficiency of the connecting facilities around the port. “I think the major problem we have at hand is that successive governments allowed the port access roads to degenerate so bad. The two main entry routes into the Lagos ports are the Ijora-Wharf Road and the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. The Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, which is the major road to the ports with six lanes, has packed up several years ago.”