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*Bolaji Sunmola elected NPCC chairman
*Ship calls down by 4.5%
Despite the seeming increasing incidence of crime in the country triggered by security situation, the Port Authority Police, Western Command said victims of crime perpetrated between January and December,2023 lost property worth N692,009,828 out of which N7,192,200 property in value have been recovered.
Presenting the security report within the year under review, at first Quarterly Meeting of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council (NPCC) in Lagos, last week, the Commissioner of Police,Western Ports, CP Olanrewaju Olawale Ishola represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations, Sylvester Uzoefuna asserted that the security report within the ports under this period could be adjudged to be relatively impressive.
While a total of 98 cases was recorded by the Command,25 cases charged to court, 153 suspects were arrested in connection with various crimes. A further breakdown shows that 37 suspects are on awaiting trial,56 suspects convicted as the number of cases under investigation hit 64 with 9 casualties.
RoRo and Tin Can ports Division recorded more crime incidents with arrested suspects numbering 35 and 30 respectively. Apapa Division recorded 25 suspects as Phase I Division had 8 and Phase II 6 suspects while Lilypond Division had 7. Marine Police Elegbeta recorded 10 suspects,NigerDock Division and Ikorodu Division recorded no suspect.
This security report may have given credence to the report that Tin Can Island Ports is the most porous port in the country necessitating the ongoing fencing project around the port.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bolaji Sunmola was unanimously elected as Chairman of NPCC at the meeting to replace the late Otunba Kunle Folarin who passed on in November,2022.
NPCC further noted that there was reduction in cargo and ship traffic in the 2023, raising concerns on how the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) over shot its target for the year.
The NPCC port performance report shows vessel calls into Nigerian ports dropped by 4.5 percent to 3,778 in 2023 as against 3,957 vessels in 2022.
Cargo throughput (excluding crude oil) also recorded a drop of 6.4 percent as a total of 70.47 million metric tons in 2023 against 75.27 million metric tons in 2022.
In a port performance report presented at the quarterly meeting of the Nigerian Port Consultative Council held yesterday in Lagos, the report also indicated a drop in Container traffic at 1.57 million (Twenty Equivalent Units),TEUs in 2023 against 1.68 million recorded in 2022, representing a 6.8 percent fall in container traffic.
However, there was a slight increase in the volume of cargoes that were brought into the nation’s ports at 122.87 million tons in 2023 against 120.37 million tons in 2022, showing an increase of 2.1 percent.
The report stated: “Container traffic during the period under review stood at 1,566,162 TEUs showing a decrease of 6.8percent from 1,681,328 TEUs handled in 2022. A further analysis of container traffic revealed that import container traffic accounted for 55.85 percent with 874,683 TEUs, while export container traffic stood at 684,586 TEUs representing 43.71 percent of total container traffic.
“A breakdown of export container traffic revealed that empty containers accounted for about 80 percent of total export container traffic.
“The average turn-around-time of vessels was 4.0 days, compared with 5.1 days I. 2022. It is however worthy to note that the significant improvement in average turn-around time vessel was brought about by the impact of Lekki Deep Seaport which achieved turn-around of only one day.
“The increase in GRT despite drop in the number of vessel calls revealed berthing of bigger vessels, especially at Lekki Port where the average GRT of the vessel is 45,185 compared to Apapa with 30, 565 GRT. This further gives credence to the importance of a deep sea to the Nigerian Maritime or port development.
“Therefore, the collective efforts of all the stakeholders are required to ensure that Lekki Deep Seaport does not suffer the fate of Apapa with respect to ease of cargo evacuation.”
