The Management of APM Terminals Apapa has announced a 50 per cent discount on 1,290 longstanding containers at the port. APM Terminals Apapa said the move is aimed at decongesting the port.
“In support of the efforts of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to decongest the port to enable the discharge of new containers, urgently requests the importers of below listed 1290 containers that have been in the terminal for 365 days to 4000 days, to clear them.
“To assist importers, and in support of government policy, the Terminal will offer 50 per cent discount on the storage charges for any of the containers delivered until March 15, 2020. Full tariff will be payable from March 16, 2020,” APM Terminals said in a notice to port users on Monday.
“We have recently experienced a substantial increase in volume of containers arriving through the seaports. This positive development can be attributed to various positive government policies such as improvement in the implementation of Ease of Doing Business policy, the Agriculture Promotion Policy and closure of land borders to curtail smuggling activities amongst others.
“However, if these containers are not cleared by customers soon enough, this volume increase could lead to high yard density which could impact berthing of vessels resulting in vessel queues. We are anticipating further improvement in throughput ahead of Christmas and year end.
“We therefore urge all the relevant stakeholders and the wider port community to ensure timely delivery of containers in an effective manner without compromising government’s policies and procedures. The terminal is willing to offer discount for longstanding containers commensurate with dwell time and therefore urge customers with containers in this category to take advantage of the offer and take delivery of their containers.
“We commend the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for operating the Lilypond Transit Truck park and the Presidential Task Team on decongesting Apapa access roads for their effective implementation of the call-up system and traffic management system respectively.
