National Association of Freight Forwarders and Air Consolidators (NAFFAC) has suggested to the federal government to designate some of the terminals to handle specialised cargoes.
National President of NAFFAC, Prince Adeyinka Bakare in a chat with newsmen, called on that the government to convert some of the terminals for exportation of Nigeria commodities, while others can handle specific imports.
Bakare noted that specialized port administration in Nigeria will further create a competitive environment among the concessionaires ,which in turn would reduce the cost of doing business in the sector.
According to him, the designation of some terminals to handle specific cargoes have yielded positive results in China, adding that government conversion of some of facilities to handle certain goods would address most challenges at the nation’s seaports.
“If we want to decongest Apapa port for instance, then we must clamour for specialised port administration to tackle the bottleneck we are faced with in Apapa.
He also noted that port business can thrive when the ports are competitive, pointing out specialisation of cargoes would make Tin Can Island port compete with Apapa port favourably .
Continuing, he added that attention can be diverted to terminal where a particular cargo is handled for effective and efficient clearance of cargoes.
Citing instance about how specialised terminals have aided trade facilitation, Bakare noted that “China ports benefitted from specialized administration because what Shanghai port handles is quite different from what Guangzhou port is handling .
He also stressed the need for government to designate one of the terminals in Lagos for exportation of Nigerian produces in a view to expedite prompt shipment of cargoes out of the shores of the country to effect balance of trade.
All these ports have different cargoes that they accept separately, that are some port in China that handles only finished products and with that in place, both ports in Lagos can compete.
NAFFAC chief opined that activities at the ports will not be diverted to a particular terminal as focus on a particular kind of consignment will be decentralized.
He said APMT, Ports and Cargo Handling Services and Tin Can Island Container Terminal (TICT) are specialist in containerized consignments and should concentrate with only such kind of cargoes.
He noted that conversion of specialized administration ports would address challenges faced in the Nigeria maritime industry