Ports & Cargo identifies poor power supply, traffic gridlock as operational threats

Persistent traffic gridlock on the port access road and lack of power supply from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) caused by the removal of the port from the national grid have been identified as the challenges facing terminal operators, especially the Ports & Cargo Handling Services.

John Jenkins, managing director of Ports & Cargo Handling Services, operator of Tin-can Island Terminal ‘C’, submitted this complaint last week to a combined team of the Policy and Monitoring Committee (PMC) of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), led by Mohammed G. Shuaibu, who came to assess the performance of privatised enterprises in the port.

Jenkins, who appealed to the Federal Government and its relevant agencies to assist the company by making the access road free and motorable and ensuring constant electricity supply to the port, said the gridlock experienced at the entrance to the terminal was occasioned by dumping of seized items on the road by the Tin-Can Island command of the Nigeria Police.

He therefore called for the clearing from the road of the seized items like containers, trucks and others to ensure easy vehicular movement in and out of the terminal.

The Ports & Cargo boss further disclosed that the company was ready to expand the scope of its operations in the maritime industry so as to generate employment for more Nigerians and continue to impact positively on the economy at large. The company, he said, has through huge investments in equipment and human capital transformed the port into what it is today.