By Samson Echenim
LAGOS—The Management of APM Terminals Apapa has said that contrary to insinuations in certain quarters, it does not deliberately delay cargo in its facilities, as doing so will work against its business interest.

The General Manager, Government, Stakeholder Relations and Communications of APM Terminals Apapa, Mr. Augustine Fischer, who stated this in Lagos, weekend, said: “The terminal in Apapa is a gateway terminal, and from a business perspective, it makes sense to have as high a throughput as possible and not store cargo in the terminal. In fact, we work tirelessly to ensure that cargo leaves the port in Apapa as soon as possible to avoid vessels having to wait to berth due to lack of space to discharge containers.”

Fischer also said that in the past year, APM Terminals Apapa had not experienced IT issues that affected cargo delivery, and that “there was no protest by any association of freight forwarders at the office of APM Terminals Apapa” as insinuated by media report.

Speaking in the same vein, President of the Nigerian Importers Integrity Association, NIIA, Godwin Onyekazi, told Vanguard that it is inconceivable that any terminal operator would impose arbitrary charges on its customers or deliberately delay the delivery of containers.

He blamed challenges in cargo delivery at the ports in Lagos on poor port access roads and poor traffic management in Apapa.

Onyekazi also said “a new truck call-up system introduced by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, worsened the plight of truck owners, consignees and their agents.”

“Until this anomaly corrected is, all of us including the terminal operators, importers, exporters, agents and shipping companies will continue to suffer hardship.

“Government revenue will also continue to suffer while diversion of cargoes to the ports of neighbouring countries and smuggling will continue to be on the increase,” he said.