The APM Terminals, Apapa said it had expanded its barge operations to accommodate more volumes of non-oil exports
Its Chief Commercial Officer, Caroline Aubert-Adewuyi ,disclosed this to journalists at the second edition of its Exporters Forum held in Lagos on Sunday.
Aubert-Adewuyi stressed the value of feedback from exporters and said APM Terminals had improved its services
She said some of the improvements included expanded barge slots, a new booking app, and enhanced rail services for smoother logistics.
“This forum is an opportunity to hear feedback from our customers to continue building products that will help the exporters grow their business and grow Nigeria’s exports in the future,” she said.
Courage Obadagbonyi, Chief Financial Officer of APM Terminals Nigeria, highlighted the importance of non-oil exports in driving foreign exchange, job creation and reducing inflation.
“APM Terminals Apapa is committed to advancing the Federal Government’s economic diversification efforts by promoting non-oil exports.
“As a result of our efforts in this regard, we have recorded a 25 per cent increase of non-oil exports in throughput, handling 51,000 TEUs in the first half of 2024 compared to 47,000 TEUs in the same period of 2023,” Obadagbonyi said.
He stressed the need for further investments in transport infrastructure, streamlined export procedures, and higher-quality products to increase Nigeria’s non-oil export potential.
APM Terminals Apapa’s Head of Operations, Riyaz Melekolangath, said that an extended gate access and dedicated export lanes had been created to cut turnaround times for export containers.
Some Industry leaders, who attended the event praised APM Terminals for its responsive export processes and urged them to focus on reducing carbon emissions through rail transport ,among others.
The Managing Director of Bueno Logistics Limited, Mr Jetson Nwankwo, commended APM Terminals for promoting the use of rail for evacuation of cargo from the port.
“It has been proven that the carbon emission of trains is less than the carbon emission of trucks.
“If you calculate it by using 10 dollars per pound of carbon, you will discover that APM Terminals can have an award of carbon credit that will be used to offset other expenses.
“If APM Terminals get some carbon credits, they can lower the rates they give on demurrage, storage or handling charges as the case may be,”he said.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng).
