Cargo evacuation by rail from Apapa port has been stalled since Sunday as a wagon has derailed at Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited, ABTL, a subsidiary of Flour Mills Nigeria Limited.
The incident was said to have occurred about 3pm on Sunday and it is yet to be resolved as at the time of filing this report.
Vanguard Maritime Report gathered that there had been other derailments in the past and each time cargo evacuation has always suffered.
Efforts to contact the Lagos District Manager of the Nigerian Railways Corporation, NRC, Jerry Oche, was not successful as he could not be reached on phone.
However, a source confirmed that “Such incident had happened in the past and from past experiences, NRC staff have no equipment to re-rail such wagons.”
The source said: “We have re-railed the wagons but there is a broken rail on the track that needs to be attended to.
“We maintain the track. The challenges are due to the peculiarity of the track in ABTL and age. That is why we are bringing in the new standard gauge to the port and also rehabilitating the old narrow gauge as part of the railway modernisation,” he said.
