Cargo Train Collapses At Lagos Port , As Over 100 Containers Trapped Along Rail Lines

By Roland Ekama, Lagos

 

At least hundreds of containers have been trapped at the Lagos Ports Complex (LPC) for about four days following engine failure of a train along the railway lines.

 

The train our correspondent gathered , developed faulty engine on Wednesday, September 4th , 2019 and as at Saturday morning , the said train has failed to discharge the boxes.

 

As at the time of filing the report , port users have condemned both the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigerian Railway Services (NRC) over failure to respond swiftly in resolving the technical hitches affecting the engine.

 

While it was also gathered that some of the boxes were laden with perishable items purposely for exports, the Nigerian Railway Services (NRC) authorities have failed to fix the faulty engines for onward delivery of the containers.

 

The containers which are suppose to off load at APM. terminals according to sources may spend more days along the rail network at the port, which in turn has led to slow vehicular movement of cargoes in and out of the port.

 

A cross section of stakeholders who spoke on the development stated that NRC and the Nigerian Ports Authority are yet to address the situation .

 

A chieftain of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Mr. Frank Aliakor stated that there is no sign of congestion due to the collapse of the train at the port.

 

Aliakor maintained that ‘the port operations at the moment is relatively low, thus no sign of congestion at the moment.

 

He said : “Therefore the ill fated train with boxes cannot result to port congestion but it would be better for the concerned authorities to fix the engines and evacuate the containers out of the road for smooth flow of vehicular movement.

 

Importation of cargoes to Apapa Port is low at the moment but the trapped containers laden on the train is not a good signal to our operations” , he added.

 

A top security chief who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the breakdown of train has affected movement of cargoes at Apapa Bulk Terminal, APMT and Eko Support.

 

He lamented that the railway network at the port are experiencing derailment impeding traffic movement.

 

He said: ” Concerning the train that had blocked access to the APMT-EKO SUPPORT-BAKASSI axis, I don’t think that any form of threat to anyone at this stage would resolve the issue.

 

“Inside the ABTL access road, the lines are bad!! We’ve been experiencing derailment in so many occasions and that had always impeded traffic within the yard that handles fertilizer production and other bulk goods.

 

“Work is ongoing towards ensuring that there would not be any form of incident between the APMT and ABTL rail lines.

 

Meanwhile text messages sent to the Port Facility Security Officer ,NPA K.Bukar was not treated as at press time.