Cargo dwell time at Apapa Port, especially at the Container Terminal under the management of APM, has drastically dropped. Container dwell time at the terminal is now 19 days.

Managing Director of APM Terminals Apapa Limited – operators of the
Apapa Container Terminal – Mr. Martin Dirks attributed the sharp
reduction in the dwell time to the awareness of consignees on the need
to take possession of their cargo timely and promptly.

“I congratulate the entire shipping community in Nigeria for this feat.
Don’t forget that before we embarked on massive awareness campaign
educating consignees about the advantages of reducing the dwell time,
containers were actually staying in the terminal for as long as 32 days.

One of the advantages inherent in taking delivery in less than 22 days is that the consignee pays less”.

He also said that consignees have been paying higher storage charges
“when they leave their boxes at the port for longer period especially
beyond 21 days”.

“We operate what is known as progressive storage charges where you
enjoy free storage for the first three days of the arrival of your
container but afterwards you pay storage of N750 only per day on 20′
and N1,500 only per day on 40′ containers from day four to day 12″,
Dirks stated.

He further disclosed that under the progressive storage charge,
consignees would be made to pay N1,500 for 20′ and N3,000 for 40′
containers respectively from day 13 to day 20 while storage charges of
N4,000 and N8,000 apply per day on 20′ and 40′ containers respectively
from day 21 upwards.

A 20′ container that is removed from the terminal within 19 days
therefore will accumulate a storage charge of only N17,250 while the
same container will attract N61,000 storage charge if left to sit on
the terminal for 30 days.

For a 40′ container, the savings to the importer who takes delivery in
19 days as against the one who takes delivery in 30 days will be a
whopping N83,000. An importer with six units of 40′ containers that are
left to sit for 30 days on the terminal will therefore be liable to
paying about one million naira storage charges alone. This is aside
terminal handling charges and customs duty whereas the same importer
would pay only N200,000 only if he takes delivery below 21 days.

“It is smart to take delivery below 22 days because that way the consignee saves a lot of money”, Dirks added.

According to him, with a little more commitment on the part of all
stakeholders, the dwell time could further reduced to 14 days.

“I know there are a lot of challenges and constraints in the Nigerian
environment especially due to poor infrastructures, but it is actually
possible to drive the dwell time far below the present number of days
and thus avoid port congestion this year”, he added.

Source: Nigeria Guardian

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