Officers of Nigeria Cus
toms Service (NCS) operating at the Lagos seaport may have abandoned a N640 million ultramodern container inspection facility, which was meant to speed up the clearing process of imported goods.
Consequently, the management of leading global terminal operator, APM Terminals Apapa Limited, which built and handed over the facility to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), in 2010, is now calling on Customs management to compel its officers to utilise the facility now lying idle at the Apapa port, as it would enhance the inspection of goods at the port.
Managing Director of APM Terminals Apapa Limited, Mr. Dallas Hampton, who gave the charge while interacting with journalists in Lagos recently said the facility was specially built by his company three years ago to provide decent and conducive office accommodation to customs officials and also serve as facility for the physical inspection of containers  related perations at the terminal.
He, however, lamented that despite the huge investment of $4 million (about N640 million) made by his company in building the facility, Customs had refused to use it, rather preferring to use a makeshift open area thus subjecting importers and their agents to the elements of weather.
Hampton said the multi-million-naira Customs building has 14 container examination bays and 235 square metres net office area all built to British standard and fully equipped with modem electronic gadgets and information technology.
He urged the new Customs Area Controller  of the command to utilise the facility to reduce the unnecessary exposure of his men and port users to unfriendly weather conditions.
Hampton also disclosed that due to the unusually high rate of physical examination of containers by NCS operatives, APM Terminals Apapa was constructing a new physical inspection facility, which had necessitated a fresh investment of additional $10 million (about Nl.6 billion).
He said the facility, the first of its kind in the world, would utilise a multi- level racking system operated by yard cranes.
The new revolutionary multi-level racking inspection system is being constructed in China and would be delivered to the terminal before the end of this quarter.
Born out tof the need to cope with the abnormally high rate of physical examination of containers by Customs, the facility is part of Phase 3 of the modemisation and upgrading of APM Terminals Apapa, which includes terminal yard redevelopment and expansion, including new staff amenities and customer service building, acquisition of additional container handling equipment and implementation of new terminal operating systems.
Hampton said that the expansion project will also convert the terminal to full
Rubber- Tyred-Gantry (RTG) operations, and includes purchase of additional container handling equipment, a new customer service building, new employee amenities buildings as well as office for Nigeria Customs, and a new Customs container inspection area.
“The project will also include state of the art terminal control systems including a satellite based container positioning system,” he said.
Hampton also said that his company has more than enough cargo handling  equipment. He said APM Terminals operates with more than 1.5 times the amount of equipment required for a facility the same size elsewhere.
He said no terminal operator in the country can match the expertise and volume of  investment of APM Terminals in Apapa.
He urged importers to embrace honest declaration as a way of reducing the high rate of physical examination of goods at the port, which he said greatly,