A quay is part of the port where cargo is lifted or vessels
are loaded and unloaded.
In separate chats with our correspondent in Lagos, experts
said that shipping companies would now be scared to berth at the affected
ports, resulting in the diversion of cargoes to West African ports or a possible
increase in freight charges.
A member of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners,
Adewale Ishola, said that the present condition of the quay aprons portrayed
danger for incoming vessels.
“The quay aprons portray danger to incoming ships. They
expose ships coming in to danger, so it means if you are not careful, people
will say that our ports are not safe. If our quay aprons are not strong enough
to take vessels, it means vessels will reject going to Tin Can port.
“Maybe they will now go to other ports and drop our
cargoes. And Apapa port is not even
safer because it is older. Apapa was becoming filled up as at then; Tin Can was
now built to take some cargoes off Apapa. Tin Can was built out of necessity.
That means if ships start to reject coming to these ports
because of the collapsing quay aprons, there may be additional premium for them
to enter our ports because they know they are taking a risk to come there. So,
the cost of delivering cargo might become higher if they have to bring their
vessels to come and deliver cargoes at a collapsing quay side,” he said.
Also speaking, an oil and gas analyst, Zaka Bala, said that
the collapsing of the quay aprons of the ports spelt doom for Nigerian economy,
noting that vessels would start moving away from Nigeria.
“This portends doom for Nigerian economy. It portends doom
for Nigerian economy because a lot of vessels will start moving away from
Nigeria. And that will make other countries that are on the coastal waters of
Atlantic Ocean to start developing their ports.
Once they start developing their ports, all the big ships
will start diverting to their ports and once that happens, most of the ships
that are supposed to bring goods to Nigeria will start berthing in other
countries.
Before you know it, other countries will take over the
position of Nigeria. And once that happens, it means even if we import goods,
they will stop in other countries and we will be forced to go to other
countries within Africa to bring in our goods. It will spell economic doom for
Nigeria,” he concluded.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority,
Muhammad Bello-Koko, had, over the weekend, raised the alarm that Tin Can
Island port was collapsing, saying that more attention should be focused more
on rehabilitating the quay walls of the port.