…Bello-Koko says Automation backbone of port efficiency***
The Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) is finally ready to begin standardization and regulation of barging operations, even as the NPA Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko said he remains committed to the mandate, even if the gesture is met with blackmail and still opposition.
The NPA Boss made the observation at the weekend, during a media parley in Lagos, stressing that his management would not be cowed down by any form of blackmail, intimidation, or corruption fight-back.
Also read : NPA: Bello-Koko receives NEPC CEO in Lagos, towards promotion of export cargoes
Highlighting that barges do not have any Automatic Identification System (AIS) or anything by which each operator or barge can be identified or communicated with once outside the visibility of the Authority, Bello Koko stated that a situation where every one of them merely “turns brown” before electronic eyes could no longer be tolerated
He maintained that the activities of the barges could no longer be ignored because each time something goes wrong in respect of traffic at the Tin Can Island Port route, road users would immediately detour to Apapa, and make rubbish of whatever success had been recorded at Apapa.
“Whenever Tin Can has a problem, everybody going to Tin Can goes through Apapa, and then that success you have achieved in Apapa is rubbished.
We are giving real priorities to export buses and we can only achieve that when the roads are freer.
The roads can only be free when Tin Can road is completed.
That is why we also encourage the use of badges; and very soon, we will have to come up with an SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for badge operations, because we presently have all sorts of sizes and shapes of badges that are not safe.
https://youtu.be/jA49Vm1pjVg
“The same way we have created a working Safety Standard for trucks, we have also created for badges and we have called them for meetings.
They have been operating on free tickets for a long time, and that has to stop.
They need to pay us tariffs.
That is what they are going to do.
We gave them concessions and at least, the government should generate revenue from it.
Most of the badges do not have communication systems.
They are not branded: when they commit an offense, you don’t even know who owns it, and there is no AIS or whatever they call it, most of the pilots just do it as if they are driving a vehicle…
Sometimes, you wake up in the morning from your home hearing vessels horning right? Every time they are horning, they are not telling us bye-bye, they are actually chasing someone to get off the channel.
“We have had situations where ships anchored in the middle of the channel because of a badge in front and that has to stop or, we start seizing them!
“So, you are likely to hear complaints and that’s why I’m mentioning it here.
We are going to be very firm and if we need to be brutal, we will.
The day a ship sinks in the middle of the channel, we are done!”, Bello-Koko indicated further, saying h would not wait for that to happen, before he embarks on decisive measures, to prevent it.
In the meantime, the NPA Managing Director has described automation as the backbone of ports’ efficiency.
Bello-Koko said this, noting that modern ports were all moving towards automation.
He stressed the need for full automation of port activities devoid of manual interference.
“Automation will be the backbone of efficiency in the port because it will improve revenue, and I am really interested in getting this done.
“We have achieved some level of automation but they are all in silos and we need to integrate them.
We need to also put something that everyone will log into, the shipping lines and others.
“We need to copy things that are being used in other ports, things that will add value and that is, the Port Community System,” he said.
According to him, the Port Community System will enable all stakeholders, the NPA, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the shipping companies and the Nigeria Customs Service, among others to log into the system for the exchange of data and processes.
“The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has mandated all ports to deploy such information technology and software by 2025, our target is actually 2023, maximum early 2024,” he said.
Bello-Koko said that the NPA had been trying to deploy the Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) for over 10 years and had reached out to the Nigeria LNG Ltd (NLNG) for collaboration.
“We need to get qualified people to deploy VTS because they are very few.
IMO gave us some companies but some of them did not meet our requirements or did not want to work with the NPA.
“However, NLNG has a VTS in Bonny even though it is not robust and we don’t have a problem collaborating with them on that.
We need them to do the survey and put the nodes and sensors around.
“It is one of the most important things in the maritime industry around the world.
One should be able to have visibility of the ship and it will be a tremendous achievement,” he said, stressing that the NPA would ensure the usage of the application when introduced to improve speed and leakage blockage.
He also highlighted that the authority had started working on the rehabilitation of port infrastructure with the right marine equipment in place.
“We have very old ports, one of the major problems is the decayed infrastructure; TinCan Island is practically collapsing and so we decided to focus our budget toward the rehabilitation of key ones.
“What we have done was to start talking to lending agencies, we have started talking to terminal operators who have operated within 10 to 15 years that their leases are about to expire, on how much they will put back.
“For their leases to be renewed, they need to contribute to the development of the ports.
If they don’t, we will give them to someone or borrow for them to be rehabilitated.
But the rates to be paid will go up.
“If we don’t do that they will keep managing those places,” he said.
Bello-Koko assured stakeholders of enhanced security and navigational equipment at the ports.
Speaking on Eto, the e-call-up system for trucks, he noted that the major challenge of the initiative was enforcement.
“A month ago, NPA signed an agreement with the Lagos State Government to deploy mobile court to that location.
“We went round and identified locations where there should be checkpoints and at the end of the day, if they are 60 and we decided we want to have 20 in that location, we will put signage there.
“Checkpoints outside that location are illegal.
And all checkpoints are not meant to check Eto tickets, some are there for the purpose of national security and community policing and they do not have business of stopping trucks.
“We are looking at a possibility of introducing an alternative so as to have competition,” he further said.
