Port gridlock: AMATO unveilsrescue team, 3,500-truck yard
The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) has unveiled a plan to develop a 3,500-capacity truck marshalling yard alongside the launch of an emergency rescue team, in a renewed push
The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) has unveiled a plan to develop a 3,500-capacity truck marshalling yard alongside the launch of an emergency rescue team, in a renewed push to restore efficiency, safety, and profitability in the country’s port logistics chain.
The initiative, announced yesterday, during the inauguration of AMATO’s Lagos State executives, is aimed at addressing long-standing bottlenecks in Apapa and Tin Can Island port corridors, where poor truck management, infrastructure gaps, and systemic inefficiencies have continued to inflate logistics costs and disrupt cargo movement.
“The difficulties currently faced by maritime truckers can be traced to the planning and concessioning of the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports,” Ogungbemi told stakeholders gathered for the ceremony. “Insufficient attention was given to the critical role of trucks in port operations, even though trucks remain the backbone of port logistics.”
He noted that the privatisation exercise that followed the concession era led directly to the removal of designated truck parks that had existed within the ports, giving rise to the indiscriminate roadside parking that now chokes port corridors. “Before the concession era, it was rare to see trucks parked indiscriminately along port access roads because adequate parking facilities existed,” he said.
According to Ogungbemi, AMATO has already identified a parcel of land for the proposed marshalling yard and formally presented the proposal to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, who subsequently referred the matter to the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC). He also commended the NSC for its swift response, noting that the Council had convened stakeholder meetings and facilitated an inspection of the proposed site alongside landowners.
The initiative, if realised, he said, would serve both the Apapa and Tin Can Island port complexes and is being positioned as a structural solution to a congestion problem that has persisted for decades.
Beyond infrastructure, AMATO is confronting a financial haemorrhage within the sector. Ogungbemi disclosed that studies had identified systemic leakages and exploitative practices by both state and non-state actors, as the principal drivers of truckers’ financial distress, leaving operators unable to maintain or replace ageing fleets and compromising road safety.
“Money that should have been used for proper truck maintenance is diverted, leaving many trucks in poor and unsafe condition,” he said.
The newly launched Rescue Team is AMATO’s direct response, Ogungbemi noted. The teams, he said, will be equipped with motorbikes, walkie-talkies, and other communication tools, and will collaborate with the National Towing Vehicle Owners Association (NTVOA) pending the acquisition of dedicated tow trucks. Their mandate is to complement the work of traffic management and safety agencies, including the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).
Ogungbemi paid tribute to LASTMA, saying the agency had consistently removed broken-down trucks, fallen containers, and other obstructions from port roads, often without any direct request from AMATO. “It would be unfair for us as an association to benefit from their work without contributing our own quota,” he said.
Representing LASTMA General Manager Olalekan Bakare-Oki, Francis Oladokun described the partnership between the two bodies as “formidable,” expressing confidence in a stronger future collaboration. “The level of partnership we have had in Apapa and in the environs has shown that these are a whole lot of people that one should work with,” he said.
One of the more pointed messages of the day came from the Lagos Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). Speaking on behalf of Sector Commander Corps Commander Kehinde Hamzat, FRSC representative CRC McAntho served notice that enforcement against unlatched containers would commence in May.
“Coming May, we’re starting an enforcement on latching of containers,” he declared, calling on AMATO to partner with the Corps to ensure a smooth exercise. “The Lagos State Government is not happy with unlatched containers, as it costs harm to the general public — both to lives and property.”
McAntho posed a pointed question to the trucking community on behalf of his commander: “Why is it that some truckers don’t like latching containers? It’s something that has nothing to do with mechanical or anything. Why is it that just a simple key, you cannot key your containers, but you prefer driving it like that?”
The Commissioner of Police, Ports Authority Police (Western) Command, Apapa, CP Toyin Agbaminoja, described the Rescue Team launch as “commendable and timely,” assuring that the command would work closely with AMATO to protect lives and property within the port corridor.
“To the newly inaugurated executives, we urge you to lead with integrity, responsibility, and cooperation with the security agencies for the collective good,” she said.
Industry stakeholders at the event underscored the economic significance of trucking within the maritime value chain.
Apapa Local Government’s Supervising Councillor for Transport and Traffic, Oluwasegun Moses, who represented Executive Chairman Idowu Senbanjo, pledged the council’s partnership with AMATO and called for regular driver orientation programmes.
“We are very ready to partner with AMATO and to support AMATO to ensure free flowing traffic in Apapa.
“There should be an annual lecture for our drivers — a piece of advice and education, so that the needful can be done,” he said, drawing on his own background as a former chief trailer driver of 22 years.
Stephen Okafor, representing the National President of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Alhaji Yusuf Othman, reinforced the strategic importance of the transport sector to the Nigerian economy. “Road transport owners and operators are next to the federal government in terms of employment. In every truck that moves, about 27 people derive their livelihood from transportation,” he said.
He praised AMATO’s evolution and charged incoming executives with the weight of their responsibility. “All eyes will be looking up to them in the maritime sector to improve the economy and our system,” Okafor said, adding that NARTO, AMATO, and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria were aligned in their efforts to strengthen the sector.
The ceremony’s centrepiece was the formal swearing-in of the AMATO Lagos State Executive Committee, with Alhaji Ahmed Saro assuming the chairmanship.
The Chairman of the Lagos State Truck and Cargo Committee, Shittu Lukman Zangalo, who described himself as a long-time collaborator of both Ogungbemi and Saro, expressed confidence in the incoming chairman. “We believe from where we stopped, we believe in another person that is coming — that he’s going to take the association to another level,” Zangalo said.
The event concluded with the presentation of certificates and appointment letters to the new executives, followed by a vote of thanks delivered by the Head of AMATO’s Technical Team, Adesina Ajadi.
AMATO called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), terminal operators, shipping companies, and clearing agent bodies, including ANALCA, NAGAFF, AFFLON, CMDLC, and AREF, to support the association’s new initiatives, describing all parties as essential to sustaining the port logistics chain that underpins Nigeria’s maritime trade.
