There is optimism that the Apapa traffic gridlock will be completely eradicated by next year when the petroleum tanker drivers would have been fully incorporated into the electronic call up system, otherwise known as Eto.
The Truck Transit Park Limited (TTP), the operator of Eto told The Guardian that the next phase of the project is to fully incorporate the petroleum marketers and truck drivers into the system to further reduce the traffic gridlock on Tin-Can Island-Mile 2 axis.
Already, the Apapa-Wharf-Ijora axis is free of traffic, thereby easing evacuation of cargoes from Apapa ports.
Briefing journalists about the progress on Eto, the Chief Operating Officer of TTP, Temidayo Adeboye, said that electronic call-up system has been working perfectly in Apapa Port, and has further improved the turnaround time of trucks from two weeks down to average of 60 to 90 hours depending on the type of cargo carried by the truck.
Adeboye said the problems with container trucks have been solved to a large extent, noting that the petroleum truckers are the next phase of Eto.
He blamed ongoing construction and heavy concentration of oil and gas tank farms that are not onboard Eto platform for the high volume of traffic witnessed on a daily basis by motorists on the Mile 2-Tin-Can Island Port axis.
Adeboye said by the time the petroleum marketers and their trucks are fully incorporated, and the roads currently under construction are completed, the entire stretch of Apapa road will be free to traffic.
Already, statistics obtained from the company showed that the cost of moving containers from Apapa Port to warehouses has drastically reduced by over 62.5 percent depending on the location of the importers’ warehouse.
It also revealed that moving 20 foot container from Apapa to locations in Lagos, which used to cost between N750, 000 and N800, 000 now cost between N200,000 and N300,000 representing 62.5 percent decrease in cost.
The company further stated that moving 40 foot container from Apapa to locations in Lagos, which used to cost between N1,500,000 to N1,600,000 now cost between N400,000 to N750,000 representing about 53.125 percent drop in cost.
While moving containers from the Apapa port to warehouses within Apapa that formerly cost between N200, 000 to N300, 000 has also dropped by 50 percent to N100, 000 to N150, 000.
TTP, which is the private technology firm partnering with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), to deploy the electronic call-up system used in managing truck movement in and out of ports in Lagos, said it schedules an average of 3,000 trucks to enter the port daily.
Adeboye said the company has been able to improve the efficiency of the electronic call-up such that human interface has been eliminated to a large extent and trucks that fail to follow the right procedure no longer have access into Apapa Port.
The Head of Corporate Development, TTP, Bolaji Akerele alluded to the fact that efficiency of the Eto App has reduced the cost at which trucks enter into the port to between N15, 000 to N25, 000 from between N100, 000 to N150, 000.
He added that resistance to change is one of the reasons some truckers were finding it difficult to abide by the rule and procedure of moving into the port under the Eto platform.
Source: Guardian
