REVEALED: Port congestion lingers over capacity utilization of scanners

There appears to be new challenges in the way of decongesting Nigeria’s sea ports in Lagos following hints that the installed scanners are presently under-utilized.

Officials of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Apapa Area 1 Command and agents operating at a Apapa port have blamed the low turnover to inability of Container Terminals to position containers for scanning.

They made this known when a team of the Port Standing Task Team, PSTT, led by its National Coordinator, Moses Fadipe, visited the ports following complaints of under-utilisation of the scanners

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Speaking at the meeting of the stakeholders, the Customs Officer-in-Charge of the Terminal, Deputy Comptroller Isa Aliyu, said that the Service has the capacity to scan about 200 to 300 containers a day but they are not being positioned on time for scanning.

Also an official of the scanning unit, Ali Ibrahim, who corroborated the position of Aliyu on the scanning capacity, added that the scanning facility and team are ready if the containers are positioned on time.

Ibrahim explained that officers work Mondays to Fridays and occasionally on Saturdays because containers are not positioned for scanning.

He also complained that there were days when Customs officers just sit down with nothing to do because there are no containers for scanning.

He further noted that should proper arrangement be put in place, officers are ready to work even on weekends to ensure that more containers are scanned.

Speaking on the situation, Chairman of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, Nelson Sariki, lamented that there were days when as few as 60 containers were scanned.

He said there were days when the image analysts will just sit for between 40 minutes to two hours waiting for the next container to be positioned.

He also complained that positioning for physical examination is not better because they face the same dilemma and importers are forced to pay extra charges and demurrage for the delay not caused by them.

However, Fadipe said that in 2021 the volume of scanned containers at the port was about 125 but when PSTT stepped in, the number rose to about 195 which stakeholders applauded.

He also noted that according to the Nigeria Port Process Manual, NPPM, which the PSTT is empowered to enforce, any agency or officer that causes delay resulting in extra charges should be held responsible.

He noted that the team has been receiving lots of complaints about delays from the side of container terminal operators, especially the APM Terminal (APMT) that is resulting in extra charges to stakeholders.

However, in his response, the Terminal Manager of APMT, Kayode Daniel, said one scanner is not enough for the volume of containers passing through Apapa port.

He further stated that the scanner was shut down for maintenance twice in a month, stressing further that Customs also do not work on Saturdays.

He added that the scanner takes about five minutes to scan each container.