Tin-Can ports received 213 ships in 2019 Q1

Tin Can Island Port (TCIP) in Lagos received a total of 213 ships with 6.77 million tonnes of goods in the first quarter of 2019, the Port Manager, Emmanuel Akporherhe, has revealed.

Receiving the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) led by its Chairman, Emmanuel Adesoye recently, Akporherhe said the major challenge facing the port was traffic gridlocks.

According to him, “Tin Can Island Port was commissioned on October 11, 1977 to address the increase in volume of imports and exports brought about by the oil boom in the 1970s and the post-civil war reconstruction era.

“Our major challenge is something that is well known; the traffic gridlock, but the good news is that late last year, the federal government awarded the contract of the road that is serving the ports”

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“They made the contract to cover from Apapa up till Oworoshoki. I was with the Dangote representative this morning and he brought out his plan. And very soon we are going to start from Liverpool to Creek road and after that they will move to Tin Can. As we speak, they have all their plans on ground.”

Explaining further he said that everything including ship throughput is tied to the bad roads.

“The throughput is tied to the road; the ship turnaround time is tied to the roads. And we are very happy that our able Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman has put enough pressure that led to the award of the road contract”, he added.

Responding, Adesoye said that the NPA board was visiting the ports to assess the impact of the traffic gridlocks on port operations.

He said that by the time the railway system is operational together with the concrete construction of Mile 2 – Tin-Can Road – Oworonshoki road, the problem of gridlock on ports access roads would be reduced.

The board also visited JosepDam Ports Service Nigeria Ltd, ENL Consortium, Apapa Bulk Terminal, Five Star Logistics and APM Terminal.