ENL Consortium boss canvasses relocation of tank farms

Owing to the negative impact of oil tank farm operations and the challenges they pose to port operations, a port operator has called for the relocation of tank farms away from the access roads leading to the nation’s economic gateway.

Vicky Haastrup, the executive vice chairman of ENL Consortium and chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), said the concentration of oil jetties and depots within the port environment is also dangerous to the port businesses.

This, she said, has a multiplier effect on the total cost of doing business at the port, and that is why trucking is also very expensive compared to what it used to be in those days. This is because people who are in the truck business are not able to do more than one trip in a day, and to even access the terminals in the port takes a number of days, which is not good for the system.

“We have spoken about this at many stakeholders’ meetings, conferences and have written to government on it without any response. We are really passionate about ensuring that these oil jetties are relocated. It is not good for our business and it is never done in any part of the world; it is only in Nigeria that this is happening and it is really so cumbersome, so frustrating to get into the port environment to do business because of these tank farms,” she said.

BusinessDay findings show that indiscriminate parking on the road by oil tankers waiting to enter the tank farms constitute gridlock on the road, which results in loss of man-hours on the road by commuters and motorists who have one business or the other to carry out in the ports.