The Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, says two of the nation’s ports, the Tin Can Port in Lagos and the Rivers Port Complex in Port Harcourt need urgent reconstruction.
He said while the Tin Can Port has been overtaken by population explosion, the Rivers Port Complex is over 100 years old and has actually reached the end of its productive life cycle.
The NPA boss stated this while speaking to newsmen in Lagos, recently. 
According to him, the Rivers Port channels cannot be dredged below the current draft because of restriction imposed by the initial engineering design of the berths.
“It is pertinent to mention that the channels cannot be dredged below their current draft because of restriction imposed by the initial engineering design of the berths”, he said. 
He regretted the activities of vandals at the Rivers Port where suspected vandals resident in the host community deployed welding equipment to cut the beams supporting the quay aprons.
“We are also grappling with cases of vandalization, for instance in Rivers Port, where suspected vandals resident in the host community deployed welding equipment to cut the beams supporting the quay aprons.
“The marine police have been doing a good job by trying to put a stop to these nefarious activities usually perpetrated at odd hours”, he said. 
Bello-Koko assured of the NPA’s efforts at fixing the access roads to the port.
“We have also not relented in efforts aimed at fixing the ports access roads and we have been liaising with the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure that those roads are fixed and they have been very cooperative. We have been in touch with Hi-tech Infrastructure Company
“We also enforce the minimum safety standard of trucks to ensure the quality of trucks that go into the port, because broken down trucks on that axis cause most of the congestions.
“So, things are improving, we have been publishing the number of trucks that go into those port locations on a weekly basis and you can find this information on all our social media platforms. This data gives you an idea of the number and types of trucks. 
“In keeping with our resolve to maximise the benefits of multi-modalism, we have encouraged the use of barges. This is also to reduce congestion and pressure on our roads. You can see there are many barging activities ongoing and it has really assisted in reducing the evacuation of containers by road.
“To curtail the incidence of barge accidents along the channels, barge licenses that do not meet up with our safety standards will be withdrawn. It is now mandatory for barges to have communication equipment. 
“The incidences of barges moving at night or double banking must also stop because of safety issues. We will also be introducing tariffs on barge operations in order to increase accrueable revenue to government”, he said.