Indigenous barge operators in Nigeria have raised an alarm over foreign dominance in barge operations in the nation’s ports.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos yesterday, the National President of the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN), Olubunmi Olumekun, alleged that APM Terminals also plans to extend its grip to another terminal, GDNL Terminal.

indigenous barge operators described the situation as a deliberate plot to push them out of business in the Apapa Port.

The operators accused terminal giant APM Terminals of denying indigenous operators access to berthing windows, while positioning GMT Shipping as its preferred barge partner.

The association have therefore called on the Federal Government through the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, to intervene to protect indigenous businesses and prevent the total collapse of barge operations.

His words: “APMT is taking over the barge operations and not allowing local content to thrive. They are trying to determine the price by bringing their barges and taking over every aspect of business at the port. This would affect the common man on the streets and the price of goods at the market.”

Olumekun explained that having been shut out of APMT’s berth, operators had turned to Eko Support Terminal as an alternative, dropping containers there and trucking them down to APMT. But that lifeline, he alleged, has now been severed.

“They went and have a kangaroo agreement with Eko Support Terminal. Normally, they have refused to give us a window at the berth for our barges to berth and discharge and pick containers, so we went to Eko Support Terminal, which permits us to drop containers at their yard and truck them down to APMT, but now APMT have gone ahead to terminate that agreement,” he said.

The BOAN President further alleged that APMT acquired GMT Shipping, a barge operating company, and is exclusively using GMT barges at its berths, effectively locking out all other indigenous operators.

“They have gone ahead to acquire GMT Shipping, a company that operates barges, as their partners, so they are now using GMT barges only to load at their berths. Now Eko Support have danced to the tune of APMT, and they are pushing us out,” Olumekun said.

Beyond exclusion from berths, Olumekun said a crippling escalation in terminal handling charges has made barge haulage economically unviable.

According to him, charges have jumped from N50,000 to nearly N300,000, an increase of approximately 300 per cent, rendering operators unable to compete with road transportation.

Road transportation is competing with us. If you are transporting cargo from Apapa Port to Oshodi, it’s around N250,000 for a 40-foot container, but for barges now, due to numerous costs from terminal charges, bunker, crew, and labour at the destination jetty, we are looking at between N700,000 and N800,000. Looking at this, how can we compete? How are we going to decongest the road with this kind of arrangement?” he asked.

Olumekun also raised concerns about the common user finger jetty in Apapa, which he noted was not concessioned to either APMT or Eko Support Terminal but has effectively been taken over by GMT Shipping.

“The common user finger jetty in Apapa, which he noted was not concessioned to either APMT or Eko Support Terminal but has effectively been taken over by GMT Shipping.

“The common user finger jetty in Apapa which was reserved by the Federal Government was not concessioned, neither to APMT nor Eko Support, and we as barge operators have written to government several times that we cannot allow foreigners to start chasing us out of the finger jetty and be making money from it,” he said, adding that BOAN members possess the necessary equipment and cranes to operate the jetty themselves should access be granted.

Invoking international port operations standards, the BOAN President noted that maritime law mandates that every terminal must leave 50 metres available for emergency evacuation or barge operations, a provision he said is being flagrantly violated.

“According to international laws on port operations, 50 metres is designed for emergency evacuation. Every terminal must leave 50 metres for emergency operations or barge operations, and even in the concession agreement the terminal operators signed with the Federal Government, the clause is stated there. APMT is the only place where this anomaly is taking place,” Olumekun stated.

The Director of Enforcement and Operations for BOAN, Nura Wagani, said the increase in terminal charges was carried out without consultation with barge operators.

“The increase in terminal handling charges was carried out without consulting us. If a truck is loading one container for N280,000 and a barge is loading for N580,000, you would prefer to go for the cheaper one. The increment is going to affect the whole nation because anyone taking delivery by barge would add it to the cost of selling their commodities for the common man.”

Wagani noted that the crisis is largely localised to Apapa.

“We, as barge operators, have been thrown out of business; nobody is patronising us because of these exorbitant rates. This is only happening in Apapa Port. If you go to the Tin Can Island Port, the cost is not the same; Tin Can Island is far cheaper than Apapa, ” he said.

However, all efforts to get APM Terminals’ reactions on the allegations proved abortive as the two contact numbers on its website were not reachable and text messages sent to the two phone numbers were not responded to as of the time of filing this report. (The Sun)