Ports & Cargo Handling Services Limited has upgraded its infrastructure, plants and equipment in order to achieve efficiency of operations at the ports.
The Managing Director, Ports & Cargo, Mr. John Jenkins, said it was part of the company’s strategic move to achieve positive results by all stakeholders.
He spoke in Lagos at a press briefing on Friday, expressing satisfaction at the efficiency, which the huge investment on infrastructure, plants and equipment by the company, had brought to the operations and customer satisfaction at the ports.
Jenkins explained that as a result of this, the turnaround time of vessels had by far reduced from what was obtainable before the concession of the terminal while berth occupancy, cargo deliveries and security of cargoes as well as service delivery had tremendously improved.
He, however, emphasised that power supply was a major challenge at the ports because it had not been connected to the public power supply.
This, according to him, is making the cost of doing business very high with huge expenses on diesel.
The managing director also commended the Federal Government for taking the bold step in the concession of port terminals to private entrepreneurs, which was yielding positive results in the maritime industry.
He pointed out that the bottlenecks or hiccups experienced in the past due to obsolete equipment had been eradicated by the state-of-the-art facilities and automated services which the organisation installed.
He said, “We have taken giant steps to improve on our operations by investing heavily on infrastructure, plants and equipment. As a result, the turnaround time of vessels has reduced from what was obtainable before the concession of the terminal.
“In the same vein, berth occupancy, cargo deliveries and security of cargoes have tremendously improved. We have also greatly improved the security situation. As a result, loss or vandalism of cargo through the activities of wharf rats has been reduced to the barest minimum.”
“A new terminal operation system has been purchased and is fully operational which tracks all container movements in the terminal and has now made loss of containers a thing of the past,” he added.