The congestion at the Apapa port in Lagos is beginning to take a huge toll on Nigerians and businesses, with the movement of a container from the port to the mainland , a distance of bout 20km, now costs nearly $4,000 (N1.5m), about the cost to ship the same container from China to Nigeria.
Consequently, other West African ports hat server the smaller, landlocked countries in the sub-region, have taken over the shipping business, overshadowing Lagos.
The Financial Times of London made these revelations in a report, entitled: ‘Nigeria’s port crisis: the $4,000 charge to carry goods across Lagos.’
“Lome, in Togo, is now the region’s busiest port, and cargo destined for Nigeria is increasingly offloaded or shipped via smaller vessels from ports in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville,” the FT said.
The Federal and Lagos State governments have set up several task forces to tackle the what has become known as Apapa Gridlock, but none has worked. The task forces usually comprise officers and men drawn from the Army, Navy, Police, Road Safety Corps, and the Civil Defence, but often inter-agency rivalry and clash of interests have worked against the success of the teams.
There have been allegations of bribery and extortion, which is encapsulated in the expression, “March brake”. It is a signal allegedly used by the security agents to demand for a bribe from a tuck driver before he would be allowed to drive past one of the multiple check points on Apapa roads.
“The congestion at the port in Lagos has become so bad that it can cost more than $4,000 to truck a container 20km to the Nigerian mainland these days, almost as much as it costs to ship one 12,000 nautical miles from China,” it said.
The FT added that the port area “is even more crowded at the busy year-end period, and the Seaport Terminal Operators Association estimates that the congestion costs the country $55m (N20.9bn) a day in lost economic activity.”
“The average spot rate this year to ship a 20ft container from Shanghai to Lagos is about $3,000, according to Shanghai Containerized Freight Index data provided by Dutch shipping consultancy Dynamar, the equivalent of about $3,750 to $4,000 for a 40ft container.
“The current spot rate is $5,000. Cargo ships often wait more than a month off the coast before they can offload their goods in the port — roughly how long some spend in transit to Lagos from China.
“Increased congestion at the end of the year has pushed prices for the transport of goods to the mainland higher.
“Rather than pay lower rates for a truck that could take several weeks to enter the port, while accruing costly terminal container storage charges, most importers opt to pay spot prices to fleet operators, which charge N1.5m ($3,953) to drive a 40ft container from Tin Can to warehouses within Lagos, according to senior executives at logistics firms. Apapa is cheaper at the moment, with current rates up to N700,000, in part because it is thought to be a better run
“The port congestion is caused by ageing infrastructure, meagre rail transport that forces 90 per cent of cargo to go by road and an almost complete lack of automation, which means every container must be physically inspected by customs officials. It has been compounded by increased sea traffic since the closure of the country’s land borders to combat smuggling last year,” the paper explained.
