The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has stressed the importance of effective intermodal connectivity to ports’ operational efficiency globally.

The industry regulator, who disclosed this while speaking  at the Crans Montana Forum Club Of Ports  which held in Brussels Belgium, pointed out that good port- city linkage systems would facilitate seamless transport and create immeasurable positive effects on national economies,

A statement issued by the agency’s Head, Corporate Communications, Isichei Osamgbi, quoted  the agency’s chief as telling the international audience that the quality of the rail and road transport connection to a port usually have positive impacts on the cargo throughput of the ports and the economies.

He explained: “The efficiency of a port is measured by the average quantity of import and export cargoes it is able to handle in a single day. A port with bad road and rail facilities will have low cargo throughput, all other factors remaining equal.

“While ships start and end their journey in a port, the cargoes in most cases originate and end up far from the ports. This in effect implies that without the connection of other modes of transport to a seaport especially rail and road transport, the port becomes crippled and the sea transport becomes inefficient”, the NIMASA boss added.

The industry expert lamented that some port managements, particularly in developing countries , failed to appreciate the  impact an effective intermodal connectivity on the efficiency of ports, noting, however, that Nigeria is investing heavily on  linking all major  sea ports and airports to the  cities through rail and good access roads in order to stimulate economic growth.

He charged port managements in other developing nations to invest in effective intermodal connectivity to enhance their port operations since an efficient land transport system will minimize vessels idle time, thereby reducing the turnaround time of vessels as well as increasing the berth occupancy ratio of the port to make it more competitive and more profitable.

Peterside clarified:  “The Nigerian Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is investing heavily in using rail to link both the seaports and the airports to all major cities in the country.

“Our quest to enhance the quality of the rail and road transport connection to all ports in Nigeria is to ensure seamless transportation of goods and services through the ports”, he added.

The NIMASA boss noted that the turnaround time in most African ports was high because of the inefficiency and lack of necessary port infrastructure which leads to longer dwell time for vessels and cargoes in the ports with the resultant effect on costs of goods.

Specifically, he pointed that while transport cost adds between two percent to five percent to the final cost of imported cargoes in developed countries, it accounted for as much as 15 percent to 50 percent in developing countries.