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Losses mount, chaos reigns as infrastructure decay robs Lagos ports of shine

By Sulaimon Salau
28 October 2018   |   3:07 am
The answer is a big no, and I will give you an example with what is happening in our firm ENL Consortium Limited as I speak to you. When you have cargoes in your stacking area for a long time, your ability to handle more ships is actually incapacitated.

Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of ENL Consortium, Princess Vicky Haastrup

The Chairman, Seaports Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Princess Vicky Haastrup, says this is the most challenging time in the history of the country’s maritime industry. Haastrup, who is also the Executive Vice Chairman, ENL Consortium Limited, told SULAIMON SALAU that immense efforts would be needed to assuage the pains and losses that infrastructural decay has caused operators in Lagos ports.

Many insinuate that port congestion is a blessing to terminal operators because they charge demurrage on overtime cargoes. How true is this?
The answer is a big no, and I will give you an example with what is happening in our firm ENL Consortium Limited as I speak to you. When you have cargoes in your stacking area for a long time, your ability to handle more ships is actually incapacitated.Right now, we have at our terminal over 300, 000 tons of cargoes, and the situation is so bad that people’s cargoes are stacked in block form. That is definitely not good for our operations because it incapacitates us completely from taking more ships.

As you may also know, doing direct delivery of cargo right now is almost impossible because gaining access to the ports is difficult, and exiting the port is even more difficult. So, if I do not have the space to stack cargo and I take in a ship, the only thing that I can do is direct delivery (from ship to the truck and out of the port). Right now, you know how impossible that is. So, if I lose a ship and lose more cargoes, how does the cargo in my stacking area make more money than me turning space around and handling more cargoes and more ships?

Sometimes, even after the cargoes have occupied the available space for a long time their owners won’t be able to pay the entire demurrage. When that happens, we just sit down with them and negotiate because we do not also want to send them out of business. That is the truth.

Another point that I have to stress now is that we now do only three ships in a month, instead of 14 ships that we used to. So, how does that translate to more money in my account? My ships and clients’ base is now affected because they are now going to other terminals, as the whole of Lagos Ports Complex is filled up. It is a national disgrace that the maritime industry is being treated this way. Just why can’t we have smooth access to Apapa and Tin Can Island ports?Indeed, it is by the mercies of God that we come into, and return home safely from the Apapa Port because we struggle to pass through extremely bad roads with container-laden trucks.

What major factors are responsible for ports’ congestion?
Bad roads actually constitute about 70 per cent of the problem, and that is why I disagree with people when they link it to empty containers coming into the ports.For me, empty containers have always been coming into the terminals, but the problem has been seriously compounded by poor access roads. If trucks are freely moving without encumbrances, then the process would have been equally smooth. I am not saying that there are no other factors, there are, and in my estimation, they contribute just about 30 per cent, while bad roads contribute 70 per cent.

These access roads have been deplorable for about 10 years now, why can’t they be fixed when the same government fixed the Abuja Airport runway in weeks?
I don’t know. What government ought to have done is to take care of the alternative roads so that if Wharf Road is being fixed there would be good alternative roads. As it is today, all trucks coming to load at Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, including those coming to the tank farms are coming through this axis. Where is the road? You need to be in Apapa to know what stakeholders in the maritime sector are going through. Residents and businesses in the area are equally suffering, and people’s lives are in danger. It is so unfortunate because this is the nation’s economic gateway.
 
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently launched the Ease of Doing Business at the ports. How has that impact been?
I know the vice president visited the port and he is very concerned about the issue of traffic, and other things that are militating against the Ease of Doing Business at the ports, but I tell you, its one thing to give the order, and another thing for people to implement the order given.

Let me say that as far as I am concerned, I haven’t seen any impact because the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) are still constituting encumbrances right at the port gate, and on the road, and doing just whatever they want to. Sometimes, I am forced to ask, is the NCS bigger than the whole of this country?

Apart from the NCS, government agencies that were asked to vacate the place are still there. If fact, they are even increasing in number. That is the true position of things at the ports today. I am telling you this because if we don’t say the truth, things will never be fixed. Orders and instructions have been given, but nothing has been carried out and I tell you right now, I am sure that even the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman must be tired because the situation on ground appears to be bigger. If so much effort is not getting enough support from where support should come from, I am sorry, nothing will happen.

Is the NCS carrying out the much-talked about 24-hour cargo clearance?
Terminal operators are working at night, but I haven’t seen a Customs officer working at night. I know that by 6:00pm or 7:00pm you don’t get to see NCS officers around anymore, but I don’t know of any 24-hour cargo clearance that is going on. If anything, they are only carrying it out with mouths. It is not happening, and that is the truth.

Some stakeholders say that terminal operators should be held responsible for the overtime cargoes that have littered the ports…
Excuse me, do I own the cargoes? They just want to add insult into injury. The cargoes have already occupied commercial space, and in this business, space is money. So, my terminal has been occupied and you are now saying that I should be responsible for moving them. Who gets the benefit of overtime cargoes? Is it the NCS or terminal operators? I don’t own the cargo; I did not keep the cargo there, so, am I the one to auction the cargo and get the money?

If terminal operators are empowered to auction overtime cargoes, with the aim of recouping losses incurred when they were left unattended to by the owners, may be we might work on that. I tell you, it is irritating to hear comments like terminal operators making money from overtime cargoes.

Some stakeholders are of the view that berth areas at Lagos ports are not congested. In fact, many of them say the ports are only experiencing backlog of cargoes waiting on terminals
I can speak for myself. There is no congestion when it comes to occupancy of berth in ENL. Like I said, I am limited by the space and the number of ships that I can handle as a result of congestion in my terminal, because if don’t have the space and cannot have the ship. This has limited our capacity to berth more ships.
 
As matters stand, do we still have landlocked countries patronising Nigerian ports?
The congestion, chaos among others that reign in our ports will make such countries run away. It entails a lot of stress doing business in Nigerian ports, and I must tell you that Nigerians are sweating, and getting depressed doing business in TinCan Island and Apapa ports. So, what will the foreigners come to do here? They will definitely look for other efficient ports.

Should the huge loss occasioned by this not bother the government?
Maybe we should even talk about smuggling. We are so disorganised to the point that people are looking for alternatives and are even resorting to smuggling. When I hear the number of cars that are being smuggled into the country daily, it baffles me. The latest that I heard which is very sad is that steel cargoes are also being smuggled into the country, so a lot of steel manufacturers are in deep trouble now as they can no longer meet up with servicing the facilities that they got from banks. This is the most challenging time in the history of maritime industry. I have been in this port for many years; I have never seen it so bad like this. Is Nigeria not losing cargoes to neighbouring countries? We can’t blame Benin Republic because the country is also looking for money.

Why does every importer prefer to import through Lagos ports?
What many don’t understand is the fact that cargoes are actually going to the other ports around the country, but I can tell you that cargoes that come to Lagos ports are mostly made for Lagos and the adjoining states. If you take your ship to Port Harcourt for instance and your cargoes are Lagos bound you have really not made any sense.

For example, Dangote Group is building Africa’s biggest refinery in Lagos, so you wouldn’t expect a lot of cargoes meant for the project to go to Port Harcourt and then be transported back to Lagos. Lagos actually is the number one port in terms of industries, development, estate development, among others, so a lot of these cargoes are meant for Lagos and states that are close to Lagos.

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