LAGOS – Mr Danladi Thomas, a tank farm owner, on Friday said that tank farms located in Apapa area of Lagos performed below 50 per cent capacity due mainly to the four weeks of traffic gridlock.
Thomas, Managing Director, Seaside Petroleum Company Ltd, said while fielding questions from Journalists in Lagos that the gridlock on Apapa roads impacted negatively on 35 tank farms in the area.
He said that the gridlock eroded the companies’ revenue and made it near impossible for them to service their clients.
“Most of the trucks that are supposed to come and load were trapped in the traffic jam for several hours. This made most depots to perform below 50 per cent of their operational capacity.
“The storage tanks are filled with products but there are no trucks to load.
“Our depots that dispense products through night loading to be able to meet the demands of its marketers were unable to do so because there are no trucks to load.
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“Some vessels are queuing to discharge petroleum products, while some of the storage tanks are filled with products but cannot be dispensed as there are no haulage trucks to load,” Thomas said.
He said that an average of about 200 trucks daily were unable to load because of the problems associated with the gridlock around Apapa.
Thomas said that most marketers were complaining about the number of hours it took them to get to the depots and load a truck.
According to him, most stakeholders are avoiding transaction in oil business around the Apapa area where over 80 per cent oil depots are allocated.
He said that the problem had reached a dangerous dimension because a tanker of 33,000 litres costs about N3 million.
Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, visited Apapa-Oshodi expressway and Apapa-Ijora roads on July 6 and July 13 respectively to ascertain the kind of intervention needed to ease traffic around the ports.
Fashola pledged the commitment of the government to freeing the roads to enhance business activities in the area.
Apapa is linked by two major highways — the Apapa Oshodi expressway and Apapa-Ijora road — which leds to the two national ports and nine terminals. (NAN)
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