Maersk Line hails progress in Nigerian ports
The exercise, which kicked off in 2006, was supervised by the Bureau for Public Enterprises, and it divested the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) from the day-to-day running of the nation’s seaports.
The Managing Director said the progress made by Nigerian ports resulted in the confidence it has in investing $2.1 billion in 22 new ships specially designed to visit West Africa’s shallow-water ports.
Thorhauge was quoted in a statement as saying that most of the terminals in the country have made major investments in 2012 in terms of infrastructure, container handling equipment and terminal management software.
According to him, these investments, along with the dampened market, have resulted in Lagos ports – for the first time in many years – being congestion free for an unprecedented 9 months in a row.
He said, “APMT Apapa has in early 2013 initiated the final phase of their expansion plans, and both TICT and Ports and Cargo Handling Services are today operating almost entirely with rubber tired gantry (RTG) cranes which has dramatically increased the yard capacity. The average dwell time days (the time spent between a container being discharged and leaving the terminal) has also gone down by around 40 per cent.
“Irrespective of these improvements, it is expected that the terminal capacity in Lagos ports will be fully utilised within the coming years, and it is essential that steps are taken to find new terminal capacity in order to keep up with Nigeria’s economic growth. Poor road infrastructure outside the terminals and lacking rail services also remain a concern.
“From a Maersk Line perspective, we continue to offer a combination of direct services from the Far East, as well our relay products from the Western Mediterranean and today Maersk Line has 7 weekly calls in the largest Nigerian ports. The 4,500 TEU (twenty foot equivalent) WAFMAX vessels we deployed in 2011/2012 remain the by far largest container vessels calling Nigeria. The WAFMAX vessels initially only called the port of Apapa, and their deployment will in 2013 be expanded to include other ports in Nigeria.”
Source: thisdaylive.com
