1.
LV & SV Cement being off-loaded from ship (4 shots)
0.19

2.
LV SV Crates being unloaded from another ship
0.35

3.
CU Sign on crate 'Lagos'
0.38

4.
LV & CU Asbestos sheeting at quayside (2 shots)
0.47

5.
SV Sign 'Shed No. 12'
0.48

6.
LV & CU Cement being stored in shed (4 shots)
1.00

7.
LV Ship being unloaded with lorries in fore-ground
1.15



Initials BB/1705 TA/MR/BB/1720



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Because of chaotic congestion in the main Nigerian port of Lagos, fifteen ships with Nigerian bound cargoes have been diverted to the two main Ghanaian ports of Tema and Takarodi.

The cargoes will be unloaded at Tema and Takarodi and shipped to Nigeria by the Ghanaian State Transport Corporation. The arrangement is part of a recent agreement between Ghana and Nigeria to ease congestion in Nigerian ports.

About 400 ships are said to have been waiting the past three months to unload in Nigeria.

The General Manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mr. M. A. Tokunboh was dismissed recently. The NPA has been struggling for about a year to find ways of relieving congestion in the country's ports -- but without success. The main trouble is in Lagos -- the population of the capital of Africa's most populated country has jumped from one million to almost three million in a few years and there are not enough berths.

The cargo ships Fodele 11 and Lissabon were among the first to arrive at Tema. Their captains said they had been waiting for more than 78 days for a berth in Lagos. Both ships were carrying thousands of tons of cement for the Nigerian Federal Housing Authority.