Maersk Nigeria Ltd has protested its suspension by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), over a purported lack of holding bay for empty containers, calling the action ‘misguided’.
NPA had suspended the shipping services of Maersk Line, Cosco Shipping, APS and Lansal shipping companies for 10 days for allegedly not having functional holding bays for their empty containers. But in an advisory issued by Maersk on Monday, the company said it has four functional holding bays in Lagos, with a storage capacity of 8,150 TEUs.
According to thetidenewsonline.com a spokesman for NPA said: “The suspension, follows the Authority’s checks, which revealed that the four companies have failed to fully comply with the directive to acquire and operate holding bays as they have either failed to utilise their holding bays at all or do not have adequate capacity to handle the volume of containers that they deal with. Some of these companies have also been found to import a larger number of containers than empty containers exported thereby making the country a dumping ground for empties.”
