Anna Okon
Lagos ports are practically swimming in empty containers and the terminals have little or no space to take in new delivery.
The situation, our correspondent gathered, had contributed to the worsening traffic situation at the ports.
On Friday, truck drivers embarked on a six-day strike over what they described as extortion by government agencies in charge of the truck call up system.
The strike, which was suspended on Monday, had crippled activities at the seaports and led to a build up of traffic along the Wharf-Apapa Road.
Our correspondent gathered that even though the strike had been called off and traffic situation should improve as a result, the huge number empty containers at the various terminals had resulted in congestion and long queue of trucks on the bridge waiting to enter the ports.
“The owners of the empty containers are waiting for people to come and rent them but that is not happening. At the moment, the terminals do not have space to take in new cargo because of the volume of empty containers,” the Zonal Coordinator, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Dr Osita Chukwu, told our correspondent.
The President, Shipping Association of Lagos State, Mr Jonathan Nicol, remarked that the containers that were brought into Nigeria were not in good condition.
“Most of them cannot be returned to where the goods were taken from because they are not even fit to be on the road. That is why, the moment they bring them to Nigeria, they just look for a place and dump them.
“It is only in Nigeria that one finds stacks of containers higher and more than what is globally acceptable,” he said.
Chukwu suggested that the government should step in and impose charges on empty containers that had been in Nigeria for more than 90 days.
“If the owners are made to pay for keeping the empty containers in the country for too long, they will not be dumping containers in the country indiscriminately the way they are doing,” he said.
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