Apapa gridlock: APM Terminals decries operational time loss, empathises with customers

APM Terminals, concessionaire of Apapa Container Terminal has raised alarm over the negative impact Apapa gridlock has on its operational timing, as its employees spend quality time in the traffic on daily basis.

While empathising with its customers and other port users over the daily suffering on Apapa road, the terminal operator said it was also a victim of the gridlock.

A statement issued to at the weekend by APM Terminals, said its employees, contractors and customers have to go through the harrowing traffic experience everyday to access the port.

“APM Terminals is wrongly being accused as the cause of the traffic gridlock in the Apapa and we would like to set the record straight. We are also a victim of the traffic gridlock as everyone else,” the statement reads.

“These employees are the ones, who operate the equipment that service the trucks and would not by any means delay or stop servicing trucks unnecessarily as it would equate to ‘shooting ourselves in the foot’.

“We have always updated our stakeholders on the traffic situation in the Apapa and it amazed us that we are tagged as the cause of the problem. However, we will not deter in doing what is right.

The statement further stated that “APM Terminal has in the last 24 hours gated out about 1,000 trucks, which explains the reason for the trucks on the queue waiting to enter the port and if we do not gate out trucks, it would be almost impossible to gate in new trucks.”

The terminal operator assured its customers that it would continue to update them on the traffic situation.

Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie