Lagos port complex: NRC, APM terminals committed to restoring services, as rail operations resume

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

A new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), that would bridge communication gap and ultimately lead to more efficient cargo evacuation by rail has been but in place by the APM Terminals Apapa and Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

This was made known at resumption of rail evacuation of containers from the Lagos Port Complex Apapa as part of efforts aimed at decongesting the roads.

In his remarks at the commencement of the rail services in Lagos on Monday, the General Manager, External Affairs of APM Terminals Apapa, Daniel Odibe, said the take off of the rail services was timely and would take away some trucks from the road.

According to him,the new SOP was facilitated by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), stating that with adequate information, planning ahead would be easy and effective.

L-R: Daniel Odibe; Jerry Oche; Ifeoma Ezedinma, and Richard Smith, Chief Commercial Officer, APM Terminals Apapa.

Odibe stated, “We wish to thank the Nigerian Shippers Council for facilitating this Standard Operating Procedure directed at improving service delivery to shippers and consignees. This is an important milestone for the port.

”It is something we have always asked for. We want to have a Standard Operating Procedure for receiving trains into the terminal and servicing them. It definitely helps planning when you have adequate information ahead of time,” Odibe said.

The closure of a section of the Apapa Bridge for repair works, that has brought about heavy congestion st the port he said the rail evacuation resumption will help reduce the backlog of cargoes at the port.

Retreating the motive behind the construction of the rail, he said, “Our intention when we constructed the rail line in 2013 and connected it to the national line was to provide alternate mode of evacuation of cargoes to customers.

“So coming together to improve on the number of containers that we evacuate by rail line is coming at the best time with the bridge closure. It will take away some trucks from the road.”

In his speech, Engr. Jerry Oche, Lagos District Manager of NRC shaded light on the capacity of A train, stating that a train is made up of 19 wagons and each of the wagons can take one 40feet or two 20feet containers at ago.

” So, if we are doing 40feet, that is 19 trucks off the road and if it is 20feet, that is 38 trucks off the road per trip. We are starting with two trips per day and we hope to increase it in no distant time.”

Also speaking, Director, Regulatory Services of Nigerian Shippers Council, Ifeoma Ezedinma, said, “This will help decongest our road because we now have multimodal transport – access to road, waterways and the train now operational.”