GRIDLOCK:Truckers Accuse Lawmakers Over Failure To Engage Shipping Lines

Truck owners operating from the nation’s maritime industry have accused the 9th Assembly of frustrating the perennial gridlock along the Apapa port corridors over failure on their part to engage shipping companies in order to get first hand knowledge why they have declined to secure holding bays for empty containers.

The truckers lamented that the ongoing reconstruction of the roads linking the ports only contributes 24% of the traffic situation in Apapa while long queue of empty containers can be attributed to the major cause of the gridlock .

As part of their oversight functions, the truck owners called on the upper and lower Chambers to engage shipping line agencies why they are undecided to provide such facilities to accommodate empty boxes outside the port vicinity of Apapa.

Speaking on the issues bothering on lack of holding bays by the multinationals and negligence on the part of the lawmakers to resolve the traffic situation within the port corridors,Vice Chairman ,Dry Cargo Section, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Alhaji Inuwa Abdullahi said the 9th Assembly has failed to tackle the perennial gridlock.

Inuwa lamented that the House of Representatives and Senate should have swing into action earlier than now to engage the shipping lines adding that the oversight functions of the legislature is questionable considering the state of Apapa.

According to him,several taskforces have been constituted by the federal government hence no solution in tackling the menacing traffic.

He noted that “It takes 40mins for a truck to gain access into the terminal and when you multiple that figure within a day you find out that only 20 trucks can gain entrance into the facilities in Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports respectively, which I think is not too good for our operations.

The truck owners affirmed that with various committees on maritime related affairs, issue of gridlock in Apapa would have been a thing of the past but added that the sit tight syndrome of the lawmakers in Abuja has not yielded positive results to ameliorate the suffering of port users.

He called on the lawmakers to engage the shipping companies and terminal operators to put in place measures in tackling the current traffic situation within the ports vicinity , even as he alleged that the multinationals are the major problem of gridlock over failure to acquire holding bays for empty containers.

The NARTO Chief commended the executive arm of government for awarding contracts to the construction companies despite the slow pace.

“The upper and lower chambers have not been able to visit the shipping companies to ask questions as part of their oversight functions even if they have I don’t think it yielded any positive results.

“The lawmakers need to sanction the shipping companies to know why they have failed to acquire holding bays for empty containers.”

On his part, a chieftain of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Comrade Godwin Ikeji, said: “In fact if our national assembly has any agenda at all concerning the issue It’s just coming to notice.

“We are excited at the recent report that they want to investigate the extortion of truckers.

“We wait for the opportunity for it is going to be explosive.If eventually it is now realized that empty container holding bay is critical for the industry, to God be the glory.

“Better be late than never. Truckers have suffered untold hardship for failure to do the right thing at the right time.

“I have submitted that there is need for reparations to truckers, because we warned before the situation now that is out of hand.

“Unless one suggests conspiracy amounting to economic sabotage on the part of those concerned.”

Meanwhile, a truck driver , Abdullahi Bashir alleged that the NASS may have comprised in tackling the menacing perennial gridlock in Apapa over failure to call the multinationals to order and resolve problem of containers littering the port corridors.

 

 

By Roland Ekama