Shippers’ Plan 24 Hours Port Operations

Nigerian ports have the capacity to run 24 hours operation. This is according to Nigeria’s Shippers’ Council.

This has informed some far-reaching initiatives the council is pursuing in order to reposition the nation’s maritime industry. Executive Secretary of the Council, Hassan Bello, during a parley with some journalists said this in Abuja.

According to him, one of the lessons from the nationwide lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic is that the Nigerian ports have the capacity to run 24 hours operation.

He also used the meeting to recall efforts the council made during the lockdown to keep the ports functional.

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According to him, “We created a Maritime Task Team”.

“The team is comprised of all relevant stakeholders in the maritime sector. They include the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Navy, the Customs, the Police, the Port Consultative Forum, the Council of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN) as well as the unions.

He expressed optimism that with the active support of the Nigerian Customs Service and other agencies that have proved to be good partners in the collective approach to optimise the operations of the ports, the 24-hour port’s operation is feasible.

Barr. Bello expatiated:  “If we have 24 hours operation, we would be more efficient and be able to compete favourably with other world-class ports across the globe.

“Another thing that happened during the period is that we were able to demonstrate that we can have multi-modal evacuation and delivery of cargo from the port because, at that time, we were able to make the rail work, during the lockdown period, there were one or two train services at the port, there were also the barges and the road.

“If one trip by a train can clear virtually everything at the port, the implication is that we may not have the need for all these trucks, secondly, the cost will come down because the railways are going to give the truckers a run for their money,” he added.

He said currently the cargo dwell time at the port stood at 20 days but that the target is to bring it down to seven days.

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