John Blessington... pressure on customs and port management. ALAN PEAT WEST AFRICAN ports are acquiring a growing reputation for serious congestion – with Lagos in Nigeria especially overcrowded. According to John Blessington of Hamburg Süd, the delays at this port are anything from a week to three weeks, and the line’s agents in Lagos suggest that it has now reached critical proportions. Indeed, the shipping line has – for a number of reasons, one of which is the delays – stopped its SA-West Africa service until March, by which time Blessington hopes that Lagos will have its act sorted out. “Huge pressure is now being put on customs and port management,” he said, “for them to sort out the unholy mess the port is in. “By March we hope that it might be back to normality and the serious backlog in the port cleared up.”
