Apapa-Ibadan cargo train commences daily operations
…As FG moves to decongest ports
The Cargo train moving from Apapa to Ibadan has commenced daily operations yesterday.
The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr Fidet Okhiria, said the wagon would carry 30 freights of containerised cargo on a trip from Lagos to Ibadan.
Okhiria said that the Minister of Transportation had inaugurated the freight movement of cargoes to Papalanto and Ibadan.
“We have facilities to move four trips daily but we are starting with three trips, making 90 of the 40ft containers to move out of the ports per day.
“What we are using now is temporary transitional line, we are making headway to ensure the building gives way to make us have the three lines that are slated for this terminal.
“We are ensuring that the operation starts, so that we don’t give room for vandalisation, when the tracks are not in use then it is vulnerable to attack,” Okhiria said.
The Minister of Transportation, Sen. Saidu Alkali, who commissioned the wagon said the freight train would move 90 container cargoes on daily basis.
He said that the freight train for moving cargo would decongest the ports and would also save shippers from accumulation of demurrages.
Alkali said that the wagon would pass through one track, adding that the remaining two tracks would start to function after completion.
“The ministry is going to liaise with the Minister of Finance and the Customs, concerning the demolition of the scanning centre which is affecting the completion of the remaining tracks into the ports.
“After laying the two remaining tracks, the cargoes will leave the ports respectively and the two remaining lines will enter the ports,” Alkali said.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Bueno Logistics, Mr Jetson Nwankwo, said, “Currently we are partnering with the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the terminal operators to help Lagos to decongest its roads from container trucks.
“The new standard gauge line that has entered APM Terminal is a big deal, it will be able to carry at least 60 containers at a go out of Apapa complex, and if we do that every day, you will not see containers on the bridges.
“The deal is to move the containers from Apapa Port complex to Moniya in Ibadan, where we have a very big freight terminal.
“Any truck coming to pick the truck will go to Moniya that will really decongest Lagos,” Nwankwo said.
