APM Terminals Ends Congestion At Apapa Port

The Managing Director of APM Terminals Limited, Apapa,  Mr. Dallas Hampton, has said that in spite of record container volumes being handled at the Apapa facility, they were able to reduce congestion  at the port.

“We have not had any significant waiting time for vessels for many months and vessels are able to berth at Apapa container terminal shortly after arrival at Lagos port. We are also seeing a reduction in imported container dwell time due to a number of reasons, not least of which are the company’s improved systems for positioning of containers for scanning and physical inspection.

“APM Terminals recently introduced a new enhancement for customers who are able to accurately nominate their containers for x-ray scanning prior to Customs confirmation. We have always said that if we can have accurate information about which containers need x ray scanning we can have them scanned much earlier and allow customers to take delivery of their goods several days sooner, rather than the usual system of waiting for Customs to review and nominate”, the APM Terminals boss stated.

He said the reduced container dwell time means that his company has almost eliminated transfers of containers to off dock facilities.

“We hope that if dwell time of containers can continue to improve, we can hold all imported containers at the terminal. Those who clamour for terminals to transfer more containers to ICDs need to realise that this practice simply adds more cost to the logistics chain. Our goal is to enable customers to take direct delivery from the port and reduce their costs significantly,” Hampton noted.

The APM Terminals boss said some people continued to use the port as a cheap warehouse by leaving their containers there  for long periods.