09 May 2915, Lagos – As the fuel scarcity begin to ease in Lagos and other parts of the country, more tanker vessels laden with premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly called fuel have arrived Nigeria’s territorial waters and are waiting to berth at Lagos ports.The tanker vessels, which are also carrying other petroleum products are in the various stages of completing their berthing procedures.
THISDAY checks revealed that while some of the tanker vessels that have completed the berthing procedures and are already discharging their cargoes, others are still awaiting further instructions on when and where to berth.
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in its daily publication, Shipping Position said no fewer than 13 tanker vessels that are presently waiting to berth at the various terminals in Lagos ports.
According to the publication, some of the affected vessels came more than a fortnight ago but could not secure berthing. This was why they were still declared as “awaiting to berth” vessels. While most of the vessels came with PMS, others came with other petroleum products such as base oil and kerosene.
The document indicates that some of the vessels have been awaiting berth since March 29, 2015. It also showed that some of the tanker vessels that came with PMS include Msk Elizabeth, Port Brussel, and Formosa Falcon.Others are Atlantic Leo, Sea Horizon and Port Steward, British Tenacity, Elux Lucis and Eternal Sunshine.
Similarly, the tanker vessel that came with base oil and kerosene include Atlantic Andaman, Loulou, Nkanas and Eagle.
According to the Shipping Position, no tanker vessel came with PMS was less than 30,000 metric tonnes (MT). On the other hand, those with base oil and kerosene have between 4,500 MT to 5,000 MT of the products.
It also showed that three other vessels had discharged fuel about two weeks ago, while two others discharged kerosene and diesel.With the increase in supply of PMS and other petroleum products, the scarcity of the products has continued to ease since the beginning of this week.
Already, the long queue at petrol stations across the country, particularly in Nigeria commercial nerve centre, Lagos has reduced significantly.
This is coming on the heels of the federal government release of N156 billion as payment for the oil subsidy, which the oil marketers described as not enough last month.
– This Day
