Port Charges Controversy: Stakeholders Criticize NRC’s Stance on Terminal Operator Fees
He attributed the extra levies charged by terminal terminal operators to double handling of containers offloaded from vessels into narrow gauge wagons awaiting loading by terminal operators.
He noted that based on the design of the qua apron the distance between vessels berthed (on anchor) at the terminals and wagons parked on the narrow-gauge railway line inside the ports is such that containers cannot be offloaded directly by crane into the wagons.
He explained further that the distance between vessels berthed, and rail line requires that mobile forklifts owned and maintained by terminal operators are deployed to move such containers into the parked wagons at extra cost.
“After dropping containers with aid of cranes on board vessels at the terminals, the terminal operators provide mobile forklifts to load such containers into the parked wagons at extra costs”, Umezurike declared.
However, to surmount these challenges, the Nigerian Shippers’Council and the NRC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of efforts to improve rail transportation of cargoes from seaports to the hinterlands.
Ahead of the commercial train service from Oyingbo to Agbado, the Lagos State government has through Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority, has continued to barricade the railway tracks along the corridor so as to discourage encroachment into the tracks when operations commence soon.
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