To ensure smooth operation of the electronic truck call-up system, known as Eto, at the ports, Nigerian Ports Authority has mandated shipping companies to own and utilise empty container holding bays for 65 per cent of their annual cargo traffic.
The Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Usman, in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, explained that lack of holding bays was part of the causes of traffic gridlock at the ports and environs, as trucks rush into the ports to discharge empty containers.
“All empty containers must be dropped at shipping companies’ holding bays. At that point, importers and their freight agents would access their deposits,” she said.
While noting that shipping companies were already displaying some degree of push-back on Eto, the NPA boss posited that part of the annual registration of shipping lines would be tied to their provision of empty container holding bays.
She said that an export processing segment has been created at Lilypond.
Usman appealed to port stakeholders to support the innovative e-truck call-up system, assuring that the authority would continue to have extensive stakeholders’ engagement, revealing that eight truck parks had been approved for Eto.
