NPA’s hammer dangles over quack barge operators

The hammer seems to be dangling over some barge operators operating along the country’s water channel illegally as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has threatened to deal ruthlessly with those involved.

The Managing Director of NPA, Mr. Mohammed Bello-koko, dropped this hint recently while playing host to maritime reporters in Lagos.

The NPA boss said it has been discovered that there are barges that are not safe but still operate along the country’s inner waters.

Bello-koko said the activities of illegal barge operators impede seamless navigation and if allowed to go unchecked might ram into vessels that are in Nigeria to discharge cargos.

He said NPA gave barge operators a waiver when the operation started but that it is high time to start regulating the activities of those involved.

“The same way the authority created minimum safety standards for trucks carrying containers, that is the same way it created for barges and we have called them for meetings.

“They have been operating on free tickets for a long time, that has to stop, they need to pay for tariffs. We gave them concessions to make sure at least the government generates from it. Most of the badges do not have communication systems. They are not branded; whenever they commit an offense, we don’t even know who is who.

“Most of the pilots don’t even care; they operate it as if they are driving a vehicle. Sometimes, you wake up in the morning and you’ll be hearing a vessel honking. Every time they are honking, sometimes they are telling someone to get off the channel.

“In fact, we have witnessed cases when vessels anchor in the middle of the channel because of a badge blocking the channel and that has to stop or we start seizing those non complaint badges.

“We are going to be very firm as regards this. In a few weeks to come, we’ll not allow some of those badges to work.

“Some weeks ago, a badge sneaked out to work and it bruise a vessel that was offloading liquid cargo. Imagine that vessel blown off. You go to Kirikiri double banking and in some places, it’s is triple banking. So, we are saying this in advance now,” he added.

Meanwhile the NPA’s boss, Bello-koko, has said he would like to achieve 100 percent port automation before 2024.

The NPA boss disclosed that modern ports are all moving towards automation, adding that automation cannot be launched haphazardly; not partial, but has to be full automation.

Bello-Koko said human interference is the reason why corruption is ravaging the port system.

“Whenever we experience manual interference, it shows we have not been fully automated. Having discovered, we wrote to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to help us consult.

“We are about to deploy the Port Community System. Port Community System is an avenue that ensures all stakeholders from the NPA itself, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and shipping companies, Nigeria Customs Service; everybody logs in for the purpose of exchanging data. It doesn’t keep away from the E-Customs system.

“That’s why we are able to get stakeholders to buy into it. We are ensuring that we are deploying harbor automation. The IMO has mandated all ports to actually deploy such IT and software by 2025. Our target is actually 2023 or early 2024,” he added