The Shippers’ Association of Lagos State last Tuesday appealed to the Federal Government to expand the access road to the Port and Terminal Multi-Service Ltd. (PTML), Grimaldi to reduce traffic congestion.

The association’s General Secretary, Mr Jonathan Nicol, made the appeal in an interview what our correspondent in Lagos.

“Grimaldi suddenly had a boom. Most of the people are now diverting their cargoes to Grimaldi, but the access road is too narrow for about 200 heavy duty trucks to enter into the terminal, load and get out.

“The space between the entrance to Grimaldi is enormous; that is, trucks that are parked on the right side of the road, if all of those trucks are evacuated, especially trucks that probably have been abandoned or under repair; that is not a mechanic warehouse.

“So, what they need to do is to clear the whole of that place, allow trucks that need to go to Grimaldi port to park in there.

“And they will call them one after the other to go and load and, then, clear the access road for them to come out.’’

Nicol said that the difficulty of trucks in getting into the ports was negatively affecting the operations of the company.

“The purpose of sending goods to Grimaldi will be defeated, if the trucks cannot go into the port easily and come out easily; then, it means the number of boxes they bring out from terminal will be minimised.

“Officers will be working out their lives to get all these boxes out, only for bottleneck through transportation that would be difficult for them to come out of the port.

“So the various task forces on transportation relating to Apapa Road, Creek Road, even to the Warehouse Road should divert their search lights on Grimaldi access road because the traffic there is hopelessly bad.

“To take about three hours from West Minster to Apapa Wharf; yesterday was abnormal; from Creek Road, on top of the bridge, to West Minister, it took us two-and-a-half hours.

“It was not even a “go slow’’. It was a holdup, and what is the cause? Trucks that want to enter Grimaldi terminal. They just blocked the road.

“And meanwhile, there are enormous spaces by the side of the road. They can park very well and they are called into the port.

“Grilmadi brings out the trucks as easily as possible; so, I don’t think waiting time will be much.’’

Nicol told our correspondent that easy movement of vehicles at the port would enable shippers and the Nigeria Customs Service to realise their respective revenue targets.

He urged that the relevant government task force to disallow trucks that had no business in the port from entering there.