Posted on May 8, 2024
Government agencies, shipping lines and Customs agents have been blamed as about 4,817 export containers are trapped at the Lagos ports.
It was learnt that following complaints by shippers over trapped export containers, Maersk Line said that 1,900 of the containers would be loaded onboard its vessel by Wednesday this week.
This was disclosed in Lagos when the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Pius Akutah, paid a working visit to the terminal. The executive secretary decried the time wasted at the port on export cargoes, especially at a time the Federal Government was looking at diversifying the economy.
However, the Government Relations Manager of APM Terminal, Kayode Daniel, said that some of the containers did not get clearance from Customs to be loaded on board vessels for export. Also, Deputy Director, Consumers Services, NSC, Celestine Akunjobi, wondered why the shipping line had to wait for APMT Terminal’s intervention before agreeing to come pick up the containers, stressing whether the delay was a deliberate action on the part on the shipping lines.
He said: “You just told us now that Maersk shipping will be shipping about 2,000 of these containers in the next couple of days, it means that the problem is not with the shippers but the shipping lines because once they move 1,900 containers out of that number what is left will be insignificant.”
However, General Manager, Legal of APM Terminal, Chinenye Deinde, said that it would be wrong to pass the blame on the shipping lines since they were not present, noting that right by right to hear from the shipping lines why there was delay in coming to pick up export boxes from the terminal.
