THE General Manager, Eko Support Logistics Base in Apapa, Mr. Seni Edu, has advocated for a more effective port access control with a view to safety and security within and around the port vicinity.

About five years after the completion of the 3,000 capacity trailer park opposite the second gate of Tin-can Island port, Apapa, Lagos, the park cannot be put to use due to lack of sea shore protection line which was not included in the original contract.

THE National Inland Water ways Authority (NIWA) has unfolded an inland waterways transportation master-plan capable of effectively  jump-starting  the much needed multi-modal transportation system in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, has said it will deploy the Truck Transit Parks, TTP, project with Electronic Call-Up System, ECUPS, to end the endemic traffic gridlock which has locked down Lagos in the last few weeks.

The Maritime Academy of  Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, which has the mandate to train and produce middle level manpower for the maritime industry, had, for obvious reasons, veered off track for more than a decade.

The Anambra State government has entered into partnership with a South African company, Arup, to construct a 14,000 Twenty Equivalent Unit, TEUs capacity Inland Container Depot to be located at Ozubulu.

Stakeholders of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Clearing Agents, ANLCA, have affirmed their confidence in and pledged their loyalty to Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha as Chairman of the Association’s Board of Trustees, BOT.

Ship owners in the country have frowned at the multiplicity of agencies calling at visiting ships contrary to global practices.

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency,  NESREA, have supervised the repatriation of four container loads of e-waste shipped into the country in the last one year.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, CAC, Jane Shoboiki, has declared that the inability and failure of Customs agents to adhere strictly to cargo clearance procedures is responsible for delay in trade facilitation.

Stakeholders in the maritime industry have said that planned reconstruction of the failed roads in the port vicinities of Apapa and its environ  is not the solution to the chaotic traffic situation in the area.

Stakeholders in the maritime industry are opposing  passage of the proposed Maritime Security Agency Bill (MASECA) 2017 into law by the National Assembly.

The Nigerian office of the world’s shipping giant, Maersk Line, has contradicted the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, over establishment of adequate holding bay capacity to accommodate empty containers.

The nation’s harsh operating environment has impacted heavily on the fishing sector of the maritime industry with about 120 fishing vessels taken to lay bays, a mortuary for ships.

A maritime consultant and head analyst of C. A. BORHA (Management and Economic Services), Christopher Borha, has called for the creation of an independent Coastal Defence Force as permanent solution to the challenge of pirate attacks on the nation’s waterways.