NPA unveils plan to tackle gridlock along Tin-can access road as congestion worsens

...moves to remove stripping operators, administer call-ups, others

Worried by the worsening traffic gridlock along the Tin-can Island Port area of the Apapa-oshodi Expressway, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has unveiled plans targeted at addressing some of the impediments contributing to the traffic congestion around Tin-can Port corridor.

Peter Abiri, new traffic manager, Tin-can Island Port, said the NPA after conducting a recent research, has discovered that the operations of ‘Stripping Yards’ along the Tin-can Island Port corridor, is one of the major impediments contributing to traffic congestion along that axis, has decided to shut them down, starting from today, Thursday November 26, 2020.

According to him, stripping yards are used by agents to discharge ‘Groupage containers,’ with contents belonging to more than one importer.

“We conducted a research and discovered that most agents, who clear groupage containers, do not want to be burdened by the problem of returning empty containers. In order to return the empty container faster, such agents have cultivated the habit of having a link with people that would be stripping the containers within the port environment to enable the owners of the goods take possession of them, and containers returned to the port immediately,” Abiri told Businessday in a phone interview.

Instead of going out of the port gate, he said, trucks with such containers wait at the port gate until it is their turn to enter the stripping yard while the people already in the yard would also be waiting to go out, thereby causing chaos on the port road.

“When you multiply the number of trucks on the Tin-can Island access road, you will discover that some are waiting to go into the port while other half would be waiting to go into the stripping yard. We had a meeting with the stripping yard coordinators some weeks back, and they promised to do something about the problem their operations are causing on the road, but all to no avail, that is why we are taking the bull by the horn,” Abiri said.

Abiri however noted that the NPA has given the stripping yard time to mop-up whatever they have in their yard before the shutdown would start; adding that the Authority has put out notice on strategic places within the port corridor to advice agents and cargo owners.

“We have also given the notice to the members of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) for wider publicity,” he said.

Abiri, who noted that the whole Tin-can Port corridor is in a mess that needed to be cleaned up to facilitate port operation, disclosed that the NPA is going to administer electronic call-up system, which would kick-start after the road is cleared of traffic gridlock.

“We would also look at those mechanics, tolling vans, vulcanizers and hawkers along the port corridors, whose activities contribute to the traffic congestion. Even the manual call-up cannot work if the access road is congested. If you go to Liverpool Bridge and MOB (Transit Park at Second Gate) you will see that trucks are waiting on the bridge because they cannot access the port, and terminal operators are not working efficiently because most of the laden containers could not go out,” he added.

Commenting, Tony Anakebe, managing director of Gold-link Investment Ltd, who described the gridlock on Tin-can Port corridor as menace, also blamed the blockage of Apapa-oshodi Expressway from the Coconut axis of the road.

“This has made it impossible for empty containers to have access into the Tin-can Island Port. The situation also affects trucks with laden containers because they were also not able to exit the port through Apapa-oshodi Expressway,” he said.