Ports & Cargo Terminal To Automate Payment Platform, January 2021
Ports & Cargo Handling Services Limited (PCHS), operator of the Terminal C, Tin Can Island Port, Lagos and a subsidiary of SIFAX Group has announced that it would launch its online payment platform for customers by January 2021.
Already, the company said it was in the test phase of the process.
This is coming two days after the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers Council, Barr Hassan Bello paid a working visit to the terminal and observed the lack of automation in its cargo delivery processes.
The port economic regulator also alleged that due to the terminals inefficiency in barge operations, cargoes stay at the port for four months without evacuation.
However, reacting to these allegations, the Executive Director, Administration of Ports and Cargo Terminal, Captain Ibraheem Olugbad has debunked the reports that the terminal is not efficient in its barge operations.
He said many terminal operators have adopted barge as an alternative option for cargo transfer in view of the deplorable access roads that have made transfer through the road a nightmarish experience.
According to Olugbade, while reacting to the reports, Ports & Cargo terminal is the number one in the handling of barges at the Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, going by the volume of cargoes and the investment made in cargo handling equipment.
He said: “It is not right for the terminal to be accused of not doing well in barge operations. The terminal does an average of 800 TEUs through the barge on a monthly basis while its dwelling time is just some days. We have invested in barges and some new equipment that guarantee improvement in our operations.
“Due to the reliable and efficient barge operations at our terminal, the empty and export containers of MSC from other terminals always find their way to Ports & Cargo terminal.
“The major challenge is that not much is happening in terms of cargo transfer through the road. The roads are not accessible. The congestion is unbearable. All the adjoining roads and streets around the ports are blocked. Trucks stay for weeks just to access the terminals. Even those who load in the terminal find it difficult to exit. Ports and Cargo can’t be blamed for this.”
Being a solution-driven business, the parent company of PCHS, SIFAX Group, invested billions of naira in a new bonded facility at Ijora, Lagos in order to decongest the ever-busy Lagos port complex.
Olugbade further pledged the readiness of the terminal as well as its parent company, SIFAX Group in finding a lasting solution to the logistics problem bedeviling the sector, adding that a speedy completion of the ongoing reconstruction of the access roads will bring the needed relief to all port users.
