Customs Agents Caution On Lilypond

The Association of
Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) last Thursday urged APM Terminals, Apapa not to use Lilypond Container Depot, Ijora, Lagos, as a permanent dumping ground for containers.
The Chairman of ANLCA Lilypond Capter, Prince Chuks Njemanze, said in Lagos that the plan would cripple business activities at the depot.
The management of APM Terminals plans to use the depot as a drop off location for empty containers in an effort to ease the gridlock on Apapa roads.
Njemanze said that the association would only allow such a situation if it would be temporary.
According to him, the association will resist the plan if it will be on a permanent basis.
“In fact, the management of APM Terminals should also endeavour to bring imports to the depot to create jobs instead of making it a permanent dumping ground.
“We are not agitating against bringing empty containers to the depot. What we will not tolerate is making it a permanent depot for empty containers.
“We also appeal that imports should be brought into the depot to give jobs to the agents because the depot also generates revenue for the government,’’ Njemanze said.
He noted that since the concession of the depot by the government as a dry port in 2006, customs and clearing agents had been working to sustain it.
He added that the lull in business at the depot was because about 600 containers at the depot were under importation fast-track.
Report say that container fast-track is a process where containers are taken from the port to the company that imported them for easy clearance and decongestion of the port.
Njemanze said that because majority of the containers were being fast-tracked, clearing agents at the depot were idle.