18 March 2013, Lagos – THE Nigerian Ports Authority has recorded an increase in the level of vehicular and containerised traffic for the year 2012 following the importation of 268,026 units, a growth of 16% over 2011 figure of 231,423 Units.
In a statement, the authority’s Public Relations Manager, Mr. Ihenacho Ebubeogu said that there was also an increase in the number of both empty and fully laden containers for the period under review.
Statistics figure made available showed that while empty Containers stood at 1,575,194TEUs which showed an increase of 11% over the same period of 2011 figure of 1,413,276TEUs as against Laden Containers which stood 877,737TEUs, a rise of 7.4% over 2011 figure of 817,246TEUs.
Available statistics show that the empty Container stood at 1,575,194TEUs which showed an increase of 11% over the same period of 2011 figure of 1,413,276TEUs
Besides, there was also an improvement in Berth occupancy rate; which was also put at 44.9% in 2012, a rise of 4% over 44.5% rate of 2011.
In term of safety, there was no record of fire incident in all the ports in the Year under review. This is an evidence of efforts of the Management of NPA in ensuring that the right safety standards are entrenched in all ports activities.
The impressive result could be attributed to continuous regular capital and maintenance dredging and the 100% completion of removal of the discovered critical wrecks in our channels.
The Managing Director NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi, has said that with the support of the Federal Government, the Authority will remain focused in constantly upgrading and improving port infrastructures in order to attract neighboring Countries transact business with NPA.
*Godwin Oritse, Vanguard
