Why shipping companies dump expired containers in Nigerian ports ― Operator

The Chief Executive Officer of Ocean & Cargo Limited, an aviation and maritime industry service provider, Aare Jide Taiwo, has said that due to a lack of any regulation against dumping of expired containers in Nigerian ports, many shipping companies, when bringing cargoes to Nigerian ports, make use of expired containers which are deliberately left behind by the ships when leaving, thus accounting for the large number of expired containers inside Nigerian ports terminals.

Speaking with selected maritime journalists over the weekend, Aare Jide Taiwo explained that many of the shipping companies deliberately make use of containers that are about to expire to bring goods into Nigerian ports and choose to abandon them back here because it is economically cheap for them to dispose such containers off here since Nigerian government does not impose heavy fines on shipping agencies that engage in dumping containers.

According to Aare Jide Taiwo, “The International best practice is for containers to be in use for five to six years and during which they can be refurbished two times before its life span expires. Most of the containers dumped at our ports are expired containers and sadly Nigeria don’t have recycling plant to remanufacture them.

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“Most of the shipping companies strategically make use of containers that are about to expire to bring goods into our country and choose to abandon them back here which is economically cheap for them as a form of disposing them off since Nigeria does not impose heavy fines on shipping agencies that engage in dumping containers.

“If such containers can be taken over by NPA in good time, it should be bided for by members of the public that needs them so as to decongest the terminals and create spaces for newly arrived containers.

“I will appeal to the NPA to grant more organisations who are willing to invest in container terminals approval to own them and adequate transfer will be done so as to decongest the ports.”

On port inefficiencies, the Ocean & Cargo Boss highlighted a lack of adequate infrastructure and automation as major reasons behind inefficiencies at Nigerian ports.

“The factors that contribute to the inefficiencies of Nigeria seaports are many but I will start with the infrastructure. Currently as I speak, the roads into and out of the ports need to be built and completed on time. This delays the process of transporting cleared goods out of the port environment. It causes a lot of delays for imported goods to leave the port and also results in expensive transportation services which in the long run put additional cost on the goods.

“Secondly, automation is an issue. If NPA introduces 100 percent automation in the clearing process, this will reduce the clearing time procedure. it will also reduce the crowding and daily traffic issues at the ports. in the long run, this will have very positive impact on the economy because the percentage of revenue generated from our seaports determines part of the GDP of our economy.

“If the automation system is properly incorporated, it will as well create job opportunities for the youth who can work from any part of Nigeria to carry out their daily operations.

“For transportation of cargoes which is part of the clearance process, most trucks don’t have businesses being parked by the roadsides within the port environment because it disturbs the free movement in and out of the port. Once NPA introduces full automation system for clearance processes, the trailer park can be in another state and the logistics approval will be given to private companies.

“When the containers are ready for pick up, importers will contact the transportation company online and send to them necessary documents to pick up the container, hence the reason the logistics company have to be registered under NPA with approved licenses. For accountability, all these licenses will generate additional revenue for NPA as regulator. This will solve the problem of long queue and trailers parking on the road side and blocking free vehicular movement.

“The present situation we are experiencing has showed that the crowd we see at the port does not translate to productivity because Nigeria port potentials is presently underutilized. The full Automation of the port will infuse all government agencies and shipping companies into a platform that make clearing process smoother and less time consuming.”