Forex scarcity, poor infrastructure biggest challenge to efficient port operations – Travers

Scarcity of foreign exchange required by terminal operators to settle their annual dollar obligations to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the poor state of road infrastructure leading to the two major seaports in Lagos (Apapa and Tin-Can Island Seaports), have been identified as major setback to effective port operations in Nigeria.

Simon Travers, managing director of Josepdam Port Services (JPS) Nigeria Limited, concessionaire in charge of Terminal A of the Tin-Can Island port, who said this in Lagos recently, said that scarcity of foreign exchange was a massive challenge to terminal operators in Nigeria owing to the fact they have an obligation to pay to the NPA in dollar to cover for throughput fee and royalty.

“We have been asking the NPA to allow us pay our obligations to them in naira because of the high exchange rate, but NPA refused on the ground that it also has an obligation to pay to government in dollar,” he lamented.

Recall that in 2006, after the Federal Government concessioned cargo handling operations to private terminal operators on lease, the NPA assumed the landlord status, which mandated the concessionaires to pay throughput, lease, royalty and other categories of fees to the NPA.

Some of the fees were paid in dollar, which was not an issue at the beginning but the situation changed two years back when the cost of foreign exchange skyrocketed as the prices of crude oil, Nigeria’s main source of foreign exchange, fell in the international market.

According to Travers, poor road infrastructure, which limits movement of cargo in and out of the port terminals, was another challenge that draws back port operations as lots of man-hour is lost on traffic in and out of the ports.

“One of the challenges that we are having at the moment as regards to port business is poor infrastructure. The road infrastructure at the port has become very appalling. And for us to encourage trade in Nigeria, there is need for free flow of cargo from the terminal to the hinterlands and this is becoming the biggest challenge against doing business in our ports today,” stated Travers.

JPS boss also expressed worries over the blame game between the Federal and Lagos State Governments regarding who has the responsibility to fix the port roads in Lagos (Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and Ijora-Apapa/Wharf road), which have been in sorry state over the past five years.  “We have been asked as NPA’s stakeholders to assist and we are willing to but the Federal Government needs to start from finding solution to the traffic gridlock by removing trucks off the road to ease movement of cargo.”

Despite these challenges, Travers disclosed that the terminal was recently given European Quality Awards for its progression in productivity, effectiveness, environment and staff welfare. He said that the company, which has been under the surveillance of the organisers of the award since the past two years, was nominated for the international award and also invited to be part of the award conference in Switzerland.

“It was an international award organised by European Committee. The organisers of the award collected information and statistics on companies’ performance, which was reviewed and we came out the overall best among other companies from different continents and industries,” he added.

According to him, the management of JPS recognises the company’s partners that include stevedores, security officers, domestic and other staff, whose efforts in one way or other contributed to the success recorded in the past.

On the significance of the award, he said: “This award is extra ordinary important because it shows that we have been recognised outside Nigeria. We had competitors from different industries and parts of the world including China, Sovereign America etc but we came out on top. It also allows us to enter the international market and several foreign investors have started talking to us on possible partnership that would enable them to develop their businesses in Nigeria.”

Stating that the international award was just the first of many awards JPS would win, he assured Nigerians that the company would be at the forefront of quality, productivity and effectiveness.

“Our ability to develop our staff to become more productive was the reason why we are investing in training and building training facilities as part of the vision we have towards arriving at where we want to be in the next five to 10 years time.

“We are putting up more finance to develop the terminal in five years time. Though, there are hiccups on the way but we are going to get there. Our vision is to make JPS the best bulk terminal in Nigeria. We have started but we need to put more standards, go green and be more productive and effective. This is why we have managed to get this award.”

The JPS boss however disclosed that the company’s next stage is to invest in increasing the productivity of vessels calling the terminal by improving their turnaround time from three to five days on berth to one or two days on berth. “We are restricted by the number of berths that we have but we can say that we are the busiest terminal in Lagos.

He also said that JPS has and will continue to invest in training of its staff to enhance the ability of staff to deliver on their responsibilities. In terms of staff welfare, we have built new training facility of international standard on our facility and new staff canteen.”

He further disclosed that the terminal is going into e-banking to reduce the volume of human traffic in the terminal and make for ease of payment for customers. “We appreciate our staff, contractors, customers and all our stakeholders for enabling us get to where we are today.

Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie