Following the difficulty in accessing the road leading to the Onne port in Rivers State due to the construction of the Eleme axis of the East-West road by the Federal Government, the Nigeria Shippers Council, (NSC), has urged port users to be patient with the government while efforts to complete the rehabilitation of the dilapidated access roads to the port is ongoing.
The council spoke during a courtesy call on its South-South Zonal Office in Rivers State by West Africa Container Terminal, WACT, on its Container Freight Station, CFS.
Speaking, the South-South Zonal Director of NSC, Glory Onojedo, appealed while noting that the call was necessary considering the input of the government in putting the Onne seaport road in good condition.
Onojedo also said the bad road was the major challenge the Onne port was facing at the moment, but added when the ongoing work on the road has been completed that worries of bad access road would be laid to rest.
He said: “The Eastern port does not really face the kind of challenges that you have at the Lagos port. The challenges we have here are mainly the access roads, particularly the access road to Onne.
“We do not have congestion at the ports. In terms of performance indicators for measuring ports, in the Eastern port, the level of compliance is quite high. Vehicle turnaround time is like five days. Cargo dwell time is even less than the regional average of 13 days.
“The good thing is that the roads are already being fixed. Although during this time there might be some hardships, especially now that the rains are coming, we are appealing to the public to exercise some patience, the government is already working on the road.”
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of West Africa Container Terminal, Jeethu Jose, noted that the introduction of CFS is to support the support in promoting non-oil export.
“We introduced CFS (Container Freight Station). The intention is to support the government on the non-oil exports which is to promote exports in the country.
“This is the first of its kind. It will increase the exports for the country by which the revenue of the country will go up. It is good for the economy. The overall situation in the country is predicting but I have confidence in Nigeria and I think the economy will grow back and stronger.
“We have all the support from all the regulators, together we partner and try to improve the economy, that is our focus.”
