A former Executive Secretary/CEO of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr Hassan Bello, has recommended the ranking of port terminals at the nation’s ports as a way of promoting increased efficiency and competition among the operators.
The assessment of the contributions of the port service providers, Bello said, will help the blue economy contribute more to the GDP.
Describing the ranking as an international standard policy, Bello, in a chat with newsmen recently, explained that the ranking will be in terms of which port terminal is faster in handling cargo delivery efficiently.
According to Bello, “How can the Blue Economy in Nigeria help in reducing the cost of production? There must be assessment. There must be ranking. You have to measure something before you realize its utility value. How much will the Blue Economy, two years on, contribute to the GDP? So many things we leave without measuring.
“Look at the terminal operators. There are no ranking and terminal operators are supposed to be ranked. There are international standards. If you take cargo to one of the terminals, Terminal A or Terminal B, which one is faster? Which one will have less paper work? And then, you rank them and you publish it.
“There’s no competition. That’s what is killing us. There’s competition in telecommunication. We used to buy the chips but now they beg you to use the chips and their services are getting competitive. The tariffs are also competitive”.
He said that as the ports economic regulator, it is the NSC that can effectively rank the service providers according to international index and World Bank Standard.
“The regulator, the Shippers’ Council should rank the port terminals because there are international index like the World Bank Standard Index about throughput.
“That means crane movement, truck movement, the gate should all be ranked based on their efficiency. You rank also by dwell time in the terminals. you rank with the technology, that means less interaction. We need a smart port and smart terminals. Terminals that doesn’t have all the people there because things are done electronically, automatically and transparently.
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“So, it is important we start ranking our port terminals. For now, there’s is less competition among the terminals. Terminals must compete. If you rank, you will see them now striving to outwit each other.
“What happened with the port reform is that there’s a pause in port reform and once you pause, that pause is very dangerous. We should continue with the speed of port reforms and the thing is, reduce the cost of transportation because cost of transportation is harming the economy.
“Lack of modern infrastructure is hurting the economy. What is the relationship between the port and the hinterlands? What about the interconnectivity? There’s none, so we have to be very calculative. We have to be conscious of what’s happening.”
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