The President of SALS, Mr Jonathan Nicol, revealed to newsmen in Lagos that the losses arose from import duties and other charges not paid to Nigerian ports.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div><\/span><\/p>\n Imagine your\u00a0Ad<\/span>\u00a0placed\u00a0here<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/div><\/span><\/p>\n According to him, there is massive diversion of Nigeria-bound cargo to ports in neighbouring countries due to bad access roads to Lagos ports. The shippers said that demurrage, terminal charges and storage fees incurred by shippers ran into billions of naira daily.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere are also queues of vessels within the Lome waters awaiting call-up for berthing in Lagos ports. This will attract port congestion levy on cargo, which is no fault of the shippers (importers and exporters).\u00a0Demurrage on containers is increasing with no control from maritime agencies importers and exporters are suffering,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Nicol said that the export initiative of the Federal Government is also under threat with export goods spending several days before arriving at the ports. To avert congestion, he suggested that the backlog of goods at the ports should be cleared. According to him, the port congestion of the past is mounting again and may lead to prolonged litigation on who pays the charges.<\/span><\/p>\n Nicol called on the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the access roads to Apapa port to expedite action to reduce problems encountered by shippers and truck owners.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIndustrialists are incurring huge expenses on haulage due to lack of access roads and they are counting more losses daily. There is no entry into Lagos ports and no access out of the ports after loading,\u2019\u2019 the shipper said, adding that truck drivers remained in the queue for several days.<\/span><\/p>\n Nicol however, commended Dangote Group, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for their assistance in rehabilitating access roads to Apapa ports.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt should be noted that they (Dangote and Flour Mills) are industrialists going the extra mile to keep the maritime industry afloat,\u2019\u2019 the shipper said.<\/span><\/p>\n Nicol also advised that empty containers inside the ports should be exported as a priority. He, however, said that the association would not subscribe to the idea of moving containers released at the ports to Papalanto in Ogun.<\/span><\/p>\n Follow us on TWITTER for more Logistics News<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Follow us on FACEBOOK for more Logistics News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe cost of moving such boxes and containers to factories in Lagos and other places will be too high. \u201cCargo taken to Papalanto will be treated as up-country cargo and will attract high haulage fees,\u2019\u2019 Nicol said.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Bus-Travel-Ad-2-1.jpg\")
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