The Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Lekki Deep Sea Port, Daniel Odibe, has revealed how the port's emergence has significantly alleviated clearance congestion challenges in Nigerian ports.
In a chart with our correspondent at the occasion of the visit of the NEPZA boss to the facility, Odibe emphasized that Lekki Deep Sea Port is fully equipped to address the longstanding challenges associated with Nigerian ports, which had previously led importers to clear their goods at foreign ports.
Odibe expressed confidence that, over time, Nigerian importers would recognize the benefits of channeling their imports through Lekki Deep Sea Port.
"We boast state-of-the-art equipment to facilitate efficient cargo delivery to our customers," Odibe noted. "This is evident in the reduced dwell time of containers in our yard and the swift truck turnaround times we've achieved with our customers."
"The Port is also fully automated and we have beautiful Cooperation with the Agencies, the parent agency, NEPZA , our major stakeholders, the Nigeria Port Authority and the customs,"
"We have also installed Drive-through scanners which have the capacity to scan containers under thirty minutes. Everything is about fast turnaround of Cargoes which reduces cost for customers.
"We are sure that over time there will be no need for Nigerian importers to leave the shores of these countries to pick their Cargoes outside with the infrastructure we have here,"
Nevertheless, the Lekki Deep Sea Port deputy Chief Operating Officer explained that there are still certain areas the Port would need the assistance of the government.
"We can only ask for more. We need integration, seamless integration between our clearance process and the agencies involved. This involved the deployment of the Port community system which will ensure the seamless clearance of Cargoes.
"And we appreciate the road construction, the road connectivities to the Port. But it is very critical that Deep Sea Port like the Lekki Deep Sea Port should have the compliment of rail connection to compliment other modes of transportation. That is one big area we would like the government to focus on, he concluded.