The Nigerian Ports Authority in its monthly report of June 2012 released yesterday said the nation's ports witnessed increased container and vehicle imports as against the same period in 2011.

Statistics released by the Authority showed the laden container throughput stood at 73,865 TEUs which showed a 24.6 per cent increase over the same period of June 2011 figure of 59,264 TEUs.

Empty container throughput stood at 52,709 TEUs showing a rise of 13.5 per cent over the June 2011 figure of 41,831TEUs. Also, vehicle imports in the month under review stood at 22,329 units representing a growth of 80.6 per cent over the June 2011 figure of 12,361 units.

The Managing Director NPA, Malam Habib Abdullahi has said that with the tremendous support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the NPA has engaged in massive infrastructural development which has resulted in increased container traffic.

He further assured that the Authority would continue to encourage the cooperation and collaboration amongst major maritime stakeholders in order to achieve the vision to make Nigerian Ports the hub of the West and Central African Region.