As parts of efforts to enhance operational efficiency, and encourage multi-modal approach to cargo evacuation, the Nigerian Shipper’s Council is facilitating the movement of cargoes by rail at the Lagos port complex, Apapa.
The operation is expected to ease congestion within the terminals and the port environment.
As the country’s port economic regulator, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council says that the steps taken to reactivate evacuation of cargoes from the Lagos port complex by rail has become expedient especially within this period of Covid-19 crisis and the attendant effect on trade.
The council says that the multimodal approach to cargo evacuation by rail would enhance efficiency and minimize cost.
After a meeting between terminal operators and the Nigerian Railway Corporation, the management of the Nigerian Shippers Council appealed to all parties to adhere to the Standard Operation Procedure already established at the port.
With the standards operating procedure fully in place, cargo evacuation by rail would be carried out twice daily, translating to a reduction of 38 trucks from the road, and when the operation is scaled up to four times daily, 72 trucks would have been removed from the the road thereby de-congesting the port environment.