The Nigerian Ports Authority has begun the evaluation of overdue cargoes at the ports in order to pave the way for efficient port operations.
According to an NPA statement, the efforts to evacuate overdue cargoes at the ports were accelerated when the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr Magdalene Ajani, led an inter-agency team comprised of the NPA, Nigerian Customs, and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council on an assessment tour of the ports’ overdue cargoes.
According to the statement, the Lagos and Tincan Island Port complexes and terminals, including the Ikorodu Lighter Terminal, have been occupied with 3,200 units of overtime cars and approximately 3,295 units of overtime containers, respectively, while the eastern ports have a combined total of 956 overtime containers.
The statement read in parts;
This awkward situation, apart from constraining terminal spaces required for seamless cargo handling operations in the ports, has contributed to the deterioration of port infrastructure, which are designed as transit locations as opposed to holding dead weight tonnages for years, which these age-long overtime cargoes constitute.
According to the statement, the decision to auction the overtime cargoes was agreed upon by the stakeholders.
Following the inspection tour, which was held on Friday and Saturday, June 23rd and 24th, respectively, an all-stakeholders sensitisation involving shipping lines and associations of freight forwarders and clearing agents was convened on Monday, June 26th, 2023, where it was unanimously agreed that all cargoes and containers that have overstayed their required time at the ports should be auctioned “in-situ” (In their current locations) and removed immediately from the ports.
To ensure transparency and inclusiveness, the modalities governing the auction process will be finalised by all stakeholders following a similar sensitization meeting with stakeholders in the eastern ports of Warri, Rivers, Onne, and Calabar, according to the statement.
Mohammed Bello-Koko, Managing Director of NPA, had sought the NCS’s cooperation on several occasions to ensure the prompt removal of overdue cargo from ports and terminal yards in order to free up space and ensure the long-term viability of the capital-intensive port infrastructure.
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