Dakuku Peterside
The
Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside has stressed the importance of
effective intermodal connectivity to port efficiency stating that
good Port- city linkage systems would facilitate seamless
transport and create immeasurable positive effect on the economy.
Dr.
Dakuku who made this known while speaking at the CRANS
MONTANA FORUM CLUB OF PORTS which held in Brussels Belgium,
also noted that the quality of the rail and road transport connection
to a port has an impact on the cargo throughput of the port.
According
to him “The efficiency of a port is measured by the average
quantity of import and export cargoes it is able to handle in a
single day. A port with bad road and rail facilities will have low
cargo throughput, all other factors remaining equal. While
ships start and end their journey in a port, the cargoes in most
cases originate and end up far from the ports. This in effect implies
that without the connection of other modes of transport to a seaport
especially rail and road transport, the port becomes crippled and the
sea transport becomes inefficient”
While
noting that some Port Managements, particularly in developing
countries do not still understand the level of impact an effective
intermodal connectivity has on the efficiency of their ports, the
NIMASA DG pointed out to the International audience that Nigeria
under the current leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari through
the Federal Ministry of Transportation is investing heavily on
linking all major sea ports and airports to the cities
through rail and good access roads to further boost the economy.
In
his words “The Nigerian Government under the leadership of
President Muhammadu Buhari is investing heavily in using rail to link
both the seaports and the airports to all major cities in the
country. Our quest to enhance the quality of the rail and road
transport connection to all ports in Nigeria is to ensure seamless
transportation of goods and services through the ports”.
Dr
Dakuku opined that the turnaround time in most African ports is too
high because of the inefficiency and lack of necessary port
infrastructure which leads to longer dwell time for vessels and
cargoes in the ports. He said that the resultant effect is high
demurrage, which is eventually passed over to the final consumer.
Speaking
further he noted that while transport cost adds between 2 to 5% to
the final cost of imported cargoes in developed countries, it is as
much as 15 to 50 % in developing countries.
He
charged port managements in other developing nations to invest in
effective intermodal connectivity to enhance their port operations,
adding that an efficient land transport system will ensure vessels
idle time in the port is highly minimized thereby reducing the
turnaround time of vessels as well as increasing the berth occupancy
ratio of the port to make it more competitive and more profitable.
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