The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has thrown its weight behind the recent call by the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) for the movement of overtime cargoes to the Kirikiri Customs Lighter Port in order to decongest the Lagos Ports.
The Chairman of NAGAFF Ikorodu Chapter, Obinna Okafor, described the call by the President of NCMDLCA, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, as a welcome development, adding that the movement of the overtime cargoes to the customs warehouse would prevent the diversion of cargoes to eastern port thereby saving importers the cost of moving diverted cargoes from the eastern port back to Lagos.
President of NCLDMA in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, and a copy made available to newsmen, stated that the Kirikiri Lighter Port has four empty terminals that can accommodate 15,000 loaded containers, to ease the congestion in Lagos and shift some of the pressure from Apapa Tincan to Kirikiri port area.
According to him, moving the overtime containers to Kirikiri would be a step in the right direction, considering that extra cost of movement of cargoes by barges to Ikorodu.
However, he urged the men of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to work closely with the terminal operators in ensuring the movement of cargoes by barges to any of the government warehouse is ensured.
He noted that, “the call for the movement of cargoes to Kirikiri is a good one and it is a step in right direction, if the space is there, they can move it there, is still government warehouse, it’s not a must the overtime cargoes should be taken to Ikorodu, once there is a customs warehouse in Kirikiri that is not under the custody of any shipping or terminal operator, because it has to be under the custody of customs like the Ikorodu government warehouse, to avoid going through another shipping company or terminal to get the container.”