Kunle Kalejaye 03 December 2015, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, in Lagos has begun a fresh drive to rid ports within Lagos corridor of substandard trucks.
The renewed effort is backed by a surveillance team comprising of personnel of the Safety Department of Western Ports headquarters, Lagos, and Tin Can Island Port Complex, charged with preventing such vehicles from gaining access to the ports.
According to NPA, the team will ensure that only trucks which complied with stipulated safety standards are allowed entry into the ports within the Lagos area.
Leader of the team, Engineer David Adeola, said the work of the team has started yielding positive results as a number of trucks are daily prevented from entering the Lagos Port Complex, LPC, due to their poor road worthiness.
He expressed optimism that if the minimum standards of road worthiness are enforced on all trucks admitted for operations in the ports and the terminal operators adhered strictly to it, it will eventually eliminate cases of mishap within and outside the ports due to faulty and substandard trucks.
He explained that the minimum standard of road worthiness for trucks entering the port stipulates specifications expected of a truck covering amongst others the truck head, body, braking system, engine, battery, trafficators, warning devices, twist locks and other fittings.
Chairman, Association of Maritime Transport Owners, AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, assured that the association was in full support of the surveillance duties of the Safety Department of NPA to ensure the safety of other road users at the ports.
Ogungbemi, who reiterated that the enforcement of the safety standard is necessary for all trucks in the nation’s seaports, assured that the association was already educating its members on the benefits of acquiring and having standard trucks for their effective operation.
Assistant General Manger, Security, Western Ports, Mr Sam Asamaige, who said the department had always supported the safety department whenever they embarked on the truck surveillance duties, explained that some truck owners were complying strictly to the rules.