BANJUL, Gambia -- Offloading containers at the Banjul port has degenerated from being "poor and inefficient to a crisis of unmanageable proportions", say the region's business leaders.

A report by The Independent newspaper said traders blamed inadequate port facilities, "a dearth of forklifts for offloading containers" and bureaucratic red tape for goods taking months to be released by the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA).

Clearing agents told the Independent the GPA had only two container handlers to offload as many as 200 containers a day, and the problem, which doubled when a machine broke down, also affected outgoing container traffic.

Port congestion in Gambia is similar to frustrations being felt at ports in Nigeria, which prompted executives of the Nigerian Ports Authority to embark on a purchasing trip in May seeking new equipment.