Up to date, the prolonged congestion at the Lagos ports has continued to constitute a major problem for shippers as over 26 vessels have been trapped in the Lagos Pilotage district waiting to either berth or discharge consignments.

We found out that it will now take around 20 days or more for vessels to berth at Apapa Ports since there’s lingering congestion in the terminals which makes worst by the poor access roads in the area. Even the terminal operators are now groaning under the given circumstance what more the international shipping firms that are very much worried about the condition of their shipments. It will also greatly affect their movement across the given routes worldwide.

Those vessels that have arrived in Nigerian waters since January 3, 2020 and even some others that arrived earlier in December last year is still await berthing at the ports. As of yesterday, around 26 vessels are left hanging on the high sea and were tagged as CRNAPP or Customs Release Not Applicable by the Nigerian Ports Authority.

Hapag-Lloyd, one of the international shipping firms being affected by the congestion has lamented that the delays at the said port are adversely affecting its movement cycle. There’s a memo being issued by the shipping firm which clearly stated that the current waiting time for berthing in Apapa terminal takes about 20 days or more while it exceeds around 10 days at the Tincan Island terminal. Given the said scenario, such operation delays greatly affect its two services namely MIAX and MWX since it contains both terminals in their long-term established schedules.

According to Hapag-Lloyd, they are continuously evaluating the current situation and taking schedule integrity measures intended for each vessel approaching the Lagos ports. This is the most feasible way to overcome such a challenge and to minimize the negative effect on the customers using these services.

Also, they are working on long-term solutions to achieve more stability and service reliability for the customers in managing their long-term supply chains through Port of Lagos. The majority of the vessels are laden with containerized cargo, premium motor spirit or petrol and even wheat.

Around 20 more new vessels are expected to arrive in Nigeria until February 1, 2020. Some of them are laden with sugar, base oil, wheat, general cargo, salt, steel, petrol, and containerized cargo.