There is currently confusion at the ports following lamentations by haulage operators over the collection of N180,000 charges from truckers to return empty containers belonging to Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) at Brawal located in Kirikiri phase 1 terminal, Apapa.
This is even as MSC has denied the allegation, stating that the real issue is down to port terminal congestion.
Speaking to the Tribune Online exclusively, spokesman of the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Alhaji Inuwa Abdullahi stated that: “So many trucks that are unwilling to pay the N180,000 and return empty containers belonging to MSC are parked at various garages because the task force team is not allowing any of the truckers to access and cross the turning point at sunrise except they go to Brawal in Kirikiri phase 1 terminal.
“It is either you go to Brawal and pay N180,000 before discharging the MSC container or you return to your garage without dropping the empty container. This is brazen extortion and we expect the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) to get involved in this.
“Even month’s back, when Hi-Tech Constructions Company shut down the Sunrise to Tin-can section of the Apapa-Oshodi expressway for repairs for more than one month, MSC Shipping line was still demanding for demurrage for late arrival of their containers despite knowing that the road has been shut down for constructions works.”
However, when contacted on the development, a management staff of MSC denied that the shipping company collectsN180,000 from truckers to return empty containers. In his words, “MSC does not charge anything for return of empty containers, and we don’t operate any facility in Kirikiri.
“We have 8000 teu in holding bay, but because the port terminals are filled up with import units, we are also having challenges moving our empty containers from our holding bays back to the port. We don’t control traffic, how is it that same trucks that entered into the ports to pick containers cannot return empty containers? That is where the real problem lays, terminal capacity.
“For the avoidance of doubt, MSC does not charge anyone to drop and empty container. Some private entrepreneurs are offering return of empty containers at a fee, but MSC is not involved in this. We are working and investing in new holding bays to address these challenges. We have holding bays at Amuwo Odofin, Ijora, Lagos-Ibadan expressway and some other smaller ones.
“However, holding bays are useless if you cannot move empty containers out of them back to the port. In such situations, holding bays become full. We even try to move empty containers via our own barges to the ports, but the terminals tell us that they are full. The issue lies in the fact that the port terminals are full with import units and are unable to take back empty containers.”
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