In a bid to enhance efficient service delivery at the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA), Area 1, Port Harcourt, the Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria Limited has acquired new Kalmar Container Handling equipments for the port.

The President, Association of Indigenous Importers and Exporters in Niger Delta (AIIEND), Somiari Prince Halliday who disclosed this  to The Tide Maritime correspondent  in Port Harcourt  recently  said the development was in view of the difficulties faced by West African  Container Terminal (WACT) to off-load containers from the ship side to the terminal as at when due.

Prince Halliday said WACT is having operational problems because some of their equipments were inefficient, over-worked and no longer have the capacity to carryout efficient services as required.

He hinted that such operational problems  also caused delay in operations at the Port thereby creating demurrage for  the importers in the Niger Delta region.

The President, who lamented over a recent problem  that faced the importers  when a vessel from China with goods had to go back to another country  to discharge containers owned by the Niger Delta importers, because the terminal operators (WACT) could not  make any alternative to discharge  the containers on board the vessel when the crane on the vessel  could not function.

“This goes to show how poorly managed the seaport in the  Niger Delta is handled by the operators because of  the deliberate understanding of the cabal in the Western region to render  the Niger Delta seaport NPA, Area I, Port Harcourt ineffective,  adding that “This deliberate action by the operators have cost  the importers huge  sums of demurrage, time of turn-over  and at the end resulted to high cost of goods.

Prince Halliday also noted that WACT had continuously charged importers in the Niger Delta security fee when the region is free from any security threat as well as delivery charge even  when they have a terminal handling charges.

He assured Jonathan and the authorities that the Association  he said the association is bringing to the notice of the President, Goodluck Jonathan and the authorities the unnecessary charges  put together  with the deliberate upliftment of tarrifs on the low  volume of goods coming through the Niger Delta seaports by Nigerian Customs  and SGS thereby forcing the  Niger  Delta importers to continuously import through the Western region.

“In pursuant to this, the Association is saying that the seaport in the Niger  Delta can effectively operate if the policies are re-visited in the region because the low growth and lack of  industries in the region is associated with the Ports not being in effective operation and high cost of clearing goods in the region,” he further stated.

Collins Barasimeye