Truck Transit Park, NPA moves to regulate container stripping
Lagos -- The promoters of the Truck Transit Park Limited, operators of the Nigeria’s electronic truck callup system, have proposed a regulated container stripping so as to stop the activities inside the ports.
Stripping takes place when individuals come together to load and import their goods in a container and open same for distribution of the content amongst themselves at port of entry. It is usually referred to as groupage.
Speaking to Sweetcrudereports, Chief Operating Officer of TTP, Mr. Dayo Adeboye, said that as long as there is a need for container stripping, it cannot be stopped, adding that it is better that an official striping yard is approved and made known to everybody.
He explained that TTP and the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, are meeting and making plans to put together a proper and regulated stripping yard.
He stated: “As long as there is a market for it, it will always be done. It is better they come together and approve a legal striping yard for them to do the striping.
“So we are going through that process now with NPA to try and identify a few places that we use as legal striping yards.”
He further explained that stripping is not an international best practice adding that because so many cannot afford to take a whole container, importers come together to take a container and pay for it.
He stated that the economic situation has forced Nigerians to do groupage on containers and when the containers get to Nigeria, they open and sort their cargoes.
Speaking on the development, President of the Association of Maritime Transport Owners, AMATO, Mr. Remi Ogungbemi, who described container stripping as a situation whereby a container with groupage cargoes can be taken aside where its contents can be off-loaded and the container returned to the terminal immediately.