The Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL), a subsidiary of Flour Mills Nigeria Limited, has lamented that the recent train that derailed inside the Lagos Port Complex paralysed its operations for more than 48 hours.
Disclosing this to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, the Managing Director of ABTL, Captain Marvin Abe explained that the train derailment occurred right inside the premises of the ABTL, disrupting port operations for more than 48 hours.
According to Captain Abe, “The train initially derailed within ABTL paralysing its operations for over 48 hours. You can visit to see things for yourself and see the deplorable state of the rail tracks.”
It will be recalled that a train carrying hundreds of export containers recently derailed inside the Lagos port complex, damaging some sections of the Apapa port rail tracks and stalling cargo evacuation by train from the Lagos Port.
By last weekend, investigations had revealed that the export containers had been evacuated to APM Terminal inside the Lagos Port Complex while engineers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) are currently battling to repair the damaged section of the rail tracks to resume cargoe evacuation by rail.
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According to investigations, after the train derailed, a crane was brought in to tow the train away, and its contents were discharged at the APM terminals. However, due to the rail tracks getting damaged in the process of the train derailment, many import containers scheduled for onward movement by rail out of the ports have remained trapped inside the Lagos Port Complex.
“We have not been able to transport import containers by rail since last Wednesday after the train derailed. The rail tracks are in a very bad condition because of the derailment, and if it is not fixed, trains won’t be able to carry containers out of the Lagos ports,” a port worker told the Nigerian Tribune.
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