Greed for Money by Shipping Companies Causes Apapa Gridlock — Council Boss

The Apapa Local Government Chairman, Hon Elijah Adele has attributed more than 70 percent of the malignant Apapa traffic to the shipping companies who he accused of insatiable greed to make money at the expense of their customers.

Adele, while interacting with the newly -elected executives of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) led by Mr Anya Njoku, claimed that many of the shipping companies do not have holding bays.

According to him, the shipping companies are driven by greed as most of them deliberately keep empty container -laden trucks lined up on the road in order to deplete container deposits paid by importers.

The Chairman said many residents of Apapa have been adversely affected by the traffic situation, even as he lamented, that the revenue collection of the local government has dwindled because most business owners have closed shop.

Adele told the journalists that this was the main reason why he decided to erect barricades, thereby restricting trucks from accessing the inner roads and residential areas in Apapa.

The Chairman also said that it is regrettable that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), saddled with the responsibility of inspection of shipping companies and their holding bays before renewing their licenses has failed to do its job.

“The major challenge of the trucks on our roads is the shipping companies, with 70% of the traffic situation in Apapa caused by the shipping companies. They are supposed to have holding bays or bonded terminals, it is just as if you are bringing in a car from abroad, but instead of you to have a car park, you decided to park on the main road”

“We have government officials that renew their (shipping companies) licenses and one of the conditions that needed to be fulfilled is that you need to inspect their bonded terminals to be sure that they have a place for empty containers, but here, the reverse is the case.

“The shipping companies are doing this because they usually collect N250,000 as demurrage (container deposit)

“Because of exploitation, they allow truckers to be on the main road, journey of five days would now take you two weeks. On each day, for one empty container, they charge about N9, 500 as demurrage, some containers can stay on queue for a month, it then means that the N250,000 is gone”

“When I resumed here newly, I talked with the truckers, NPA, APMT and other concessionaires, and I also talked with some of the shipping companies, but they have this confidence that no matter how you try, you would not break through, so I was challenged” Adele stated.

He noted that the barricades on the Apapa inner roads are movable, but any company that needs to receive a container must inform the government 12hours ahead in order to have access. On weekends, he said, they need to inform government 48hours ahead so that her officers can be on ground.

He assured that the local government area wants business owners within the inner roads in Apapa to be able to do their businesses without stress.

“Revenue generation in Apapa has declined and it is only those that are rugged that are still in Apapa, but by the time you meet them, they would tell you their side of the story that for one month, customers find it difficult to access their place.

“As for the trucks on the Apapa Bridge, we have already moved them out, the strength and expiration date of the bridge have already lapsed, some of them have spent more than forty years, it is only the grace of God that has been sustaining that bridge, not to talk of now adding more load on it. The bridge is supposed to be for transit and not for cargoes to be permanently positioned”.

Reacting to the high level of refuse that have taken over Apapa port and inner residential roads, Hon Adele said that the local government is financially handicapped.

He admitted , “One of the primary responsibilities of the Local Government is to clear refuse and it has to be based on the resources that you have, for now I have two compactors, one of them is as good as gone, the second one is still Ok.

“I am planning to buy a second hand tokunbo compactor for N18million, but where am I going to get the money?