Overstaying Lagos container transferred to Onne Port

A TASK force on port decongestion is preparing to move 2,000 containers that have been stockpiling at the Nigerian ports of Lagos to Onne Port in Rivers state, in a bid to ease heavy congestion.

Task force member Malam Muhammed Bulangu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the overstaying containers were being loaded inside a vessel for the journey to Onne.

Mr Bulangu, also general manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Western Operations, said that 1,200 of the containers had been moved to Ikorodu Lighter Terminal.

The efforts to move the uncollected containers to Onne Port is part of measures introduced by the Federal Ministry of Transportation to decongest the Lagos ports.

Congestion in Lagos ports started in August 2008. Its cause has been blamed on the stockpiling of empty containers, high port charges, the multiplicity of government agencies, 100 per cent cargo examination by the Nigerian customs service and long documentation procedure.

APM Terminals in Apapa, which handles 75 per cent of container imports in the country, said that 458 containers had been transferred from the terminals to the Ikorodu terminal in the past eight weeks. A further 200 overtime containers in stock in Apapa were also due to be shipped to Onne next week.

Source: Portnews