Shippers lament N868 billion worth of export goods trapped in Lagos ports.

Segun Oladipupo |

Shippers Association Lagos State (SALS) has lamented that over N868 billion worth of export goods are currently trapped in the Lagos ports

As a result, the group appealed to leaders of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) to shelve their planned strike due to the volume of export cargo trapped in the ports.

The President of SALS, Reverend Jonathan Nicol made the appeal in a message sent to our correspondent on Saturday evening.

He described the actions of the two groups as germane, especially the state of emergence threatened by ANLCA.

Nicol said the plea became necessary due to the challenges experienced by Exporters with goods worth over #868billion which is under threat of decomposition due to regulatory reasons.

“We will give our support for a total lockdown if our Exporters are not treated nicely by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the Shipping Lines and the Terminal Operators to have a serious dialogue with all the Associations, including the Shippers Association Lagos State, respectively.

“There is need for our concerted support for Export trade and we cannot allow exporters to wallow in massive loss of perishable goods.

” Strike will definitely increase our woes and indeed increase cost of demurrages on Import and Export cargo.

“The Apapa traffic has evolved to be a Lagos State traffic that has shown no respect to anyone. Indeed, workers spend quality man hours on the roads, to and from work. The traffic is threatening our corporate existence.

“Trade is dwindling. This is as a result of systemic failure that will affect all the Port Management Agencies for their failure to solve the intractable traffic. The Presidential Task Force Team and the Nigerian Ports Authority are one and the same.

“We support the amalgamation of Truck owners in the new concept of tackling the traffic, afterall, they are the owners of the Trucks on the roads.

“These issues demand our collective concerns especially now. Congestion in the Ports is looming. We have carefully looked into these unwholesome occurrences and indeed again appeal for the suspension of the strike,” he explained.