Shippers bemoan long cargo dwell time at ports

Cargo
Lagos, Aug. 4, 2015 (NAN) The Shippers’ Association Lagos State (SALS) on Tuesday expressed concern about the long cargo dwell time in most terminals in Nigerian ports.

The President of the association, Mr Jonathan Nicol told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that cargo stayed as long as 21 days in most of the terminals.

“Before concession, shippers were happy with the operations of Nigerian Ports Authority. The cost of doing business then was very reasonable.

“The only complaint then was lack of equipment. So cargo delivery time was 14 days.

“Now that the ports have been concessioned, cargo delivery remains between 14 and 21 days, which means no meaningful improvement has taken place on cargo dwell time,” Nicol said.

He said that the only exception was Ports and Terminal Multi-Service Ltd. (PTML) at the Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos, where cargo dwell time was less than 14 days.

Nicol urged the terminal operators to ensure that containers were transferred to other less busy terminals in order to improve on cargo dwell time.

He also suggested that the Federal Government should appoint professionals to head maritime agencies to enable the industry to flourish.