NPA to deploy electronic call-up system at Onne port — one year after suspending Eto platform

The Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) says it has plans to implement an electronic call-up system at the Onne port complex.

An electronic call-up system is an advanced digital platform designed to regulate the entry and exit of articulated trucks.

In a statement on Tuesday, Abubakar Dantsoho, NPA’s managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), spoke when the executive team of Callup Technology Services Limited and Forge Concepts Limited, paid a pre-implementation visit to the NPA headquarters.

The two companies are the operators of the electronic solution.

Dantsoho, who was the port manager of the facility from 2020 to 2021, said the move is to bolster the eastern ports development agenda, following the approval of the federal executive council (FEC).

“In line with the directive of the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, we are poised to provide the support necessary to fast-track the automation of truck traffic for Onne before the end of this quarter,” he said.

“We would ensure that the operators structure their Information Technology deployments in a manner that seamlessly plugs into the Port Community System (PCS) and the forthcoming National Single Window (NSW) while also emphasizing sustainable use of alternative sources of energy.”

According to the NPA, the Onne port complex houses the federal ocean terminal (FOT) and the federal lighter terminal (FLT).

The agency said it is also the largest oil and gas logistics base in West and Central Africa, and has been recording unprecedented growth in vessel and cargo traffic.

In February 2021, the NPA introduced an electronic system to remove human interference in the process of calling up trucks to the ports.

The call-up platform was called ‘Eto’ — a term coined from ‘Ẹ̀ tó’, a Yoruba phrase that loosely means ‘line up’.

However, on August 30, 2023, the authority ordered the immediate suspension of truck processing through the electronic call-up system.

The suspension was said to be part of efforts to streamline and optimise the operational processes within the port ecosystem.