LAGOS MARITIME NEWS: container traffic holdup

The gridlock on the Apapa exit roads appears to have engulfed the ports themselves.

Nigerian Ports Authority had ordered the shipping companies to establish holding bays for containers in order to reduce the number of containers- laden trucks congesting roads on the Apapa axis.

So far only about eleven Shipping companies have complied. According to the records of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety agency (NIMASA) over 80 companies may be in default.

Ports Authority sources indicate that complying shipping firms have only been able to create holding facilities for just over eleven thousand containers as against an estimated daily intake of over 50,000 (fifty) thousand containers. Our correspondent describes the unfolding port situation as “worse than a nightmare”.