The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • AP Moller-Maersk Group to empower SMEs

    The Head of Marketing and Business Development, Africa Region of Maersk, Anita De Werd, has said A.P. Moller-Maersk Group focuses on working through partnerships to empower entrepreneurs and small-medium enterprises (SMEs). She said the Copenhagen-headquartered shipping conglomerate was passionate about enabling trade for the benefit of the society and its customers.

    De Werd, who spoke as a panelist during the opening session of the fifth edition of Tony Elumelu Foundation Forum in Abuja, said 95 per cent of companies in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are SMEs and account for two-third of formal sector jobs, despite having much less access to the benefits of trade. She said: “If we can empower small businesses in trade, we can help make economies more inclusive.”

    She said this informed Maersk, in 2014, to follow a shipment of avocadoes from Kenya to the Netherlands. The single shipment, she recalled, involved almost 30 different people or organisations and generated more than 200 different communication interactions resulting in unnecessary time and costs.

    “Maersk is the leading global integrator of container logistics. We handle about a fifth of global containerised trade. Our purpose as a company is to enable trade for the benefit of society and our customers. We know shipping and logistics like no other.

    “We develop e-business tools to make booking a container shipment simpler. We have a partnership with IBM where we use block-chain technology to enable logistics to be more transparent. We are enabling true information sharing and collaboration across supply chains, thereby increasing industry innovation, reducing trade friction and ultimately promoting more global trade,” she said.

    De Werd also advocated open trade as an enabler of economic prosperity and growth, stating that A.P. Moller-Maersk wanted to be a cornerstone of an inclusive and sustainable global trading system that can help eradicate poverty and deliver decent work for all. These she said are two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by the United Nations in 2015.

    According to her, the purpose of “SheTrades”, an initiative to enable female entrepreneurs to access the benefits of trade, aims to connect three million female entrepreneurs to markets by 2021.

    She noted that the initiative encourages inclusion as well as benefitting business, as a research shows that closing the global economic gender gap could add 26 percent to the annual global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

    “Together with SheTrades, A.P. Moller-Maersk will help female entrepreneurs in developing countries engaged in trade by sharing our expertise on transport and logistics with the female entrepreneurs,” De Werd said.

  • ‘There’re over 2,000 illegal routes into Nigeria’

    Mustafa Sarkin-Kebbi, Comptroller of Customs in charge of Zone B, says the Customs officers face enormous risks in the fight against smuggling. He, however, says his men remain undaunted in the face of battle. His zone, with headquarters in Kaduna, comprises states in Northwest and Northcentral, including Abuja. MUYIWA LUCAS met him.

    You operate in a high risk zone. How are you able to achieve lesser casualties with increased seizures?

    Let me start by saying that this unit made 623 seizures amounting to total Duty Paid Value of N1,050,500,000 between January and June 2019. This value for the 2019 half year seizures almost doubled that of 2018 which was N504,112,150  in the first half of last year.

    Now, my background in the service is the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU). I was in CIU for more than 15 years. From my first basic training, I was posted there in the early days of my joining this service. When I came we had situations of casualties, even my own cousin was shot dead in Katsina. So, I looked at it and decided to embark on more intelligence-driven operations. If we discover that applying force may be fatal, we allow smugglers to come in, we identify the warehouses being used and at the appropriate time we strike in the wee hours of the night to evacuate the smuggled items. Smugglers operate using smaller vehicles to bring in items in bits. If we decide to engage them at that point, it may be disorganised with higher casualties and lesser seizures. We allow them to converge in one place and we strike. Sometimes we trail trucks to safe positions I call no man’s land before striking. Another thing is the appropriate use of weapons. We have told them that the guns are not for decoration. We have always told our men to apply weapons as provided by the law to protect their lives and ensure criminal elements do not murder them. We assure them of our support. Human right community is unfair to us. When Customs officers are unlawfully killed, human rights crusaders are quiet but when our officers kill suspected smugglers in the course of protecting their lives, human rights activists rise against us. I have told my officers that I will always defend them whenever they use their arms lawfully in the discharge of their duties. They cannot be armed and cowardly allow lawless people to maim and kill them as Customs officers on duty. That has been my position and luckily for me, my Controller General has also given us such support from the top. My CGC frowns at a situation where an armed officer will allow smugglers to stab them kill them and walk away. Officers who allow such don’t know what they are doing.

    Some of the states under your watch experience some form of insurgency and increased military presence. Do you enjoy any form of cooperation from the armed forces?

    Yes, we do. Let me mention only two states where these security challenges are more pronounced –  Katsina and Zamfara. In Katsina, we all work together. The military, police, customs and all others work hand in hand. In most cases, we share information and intelligence. Where one security agency is covering, the others may not be there, so we share information vice versa. That is what we do to survive. There is an outpost called Basari in Katsina, we got information that bandits and smugglers were planning a big attack on our men in Basari. The information came from a sister agency. Our men vacated in the interim. Lo and behold, they came and rained gun fire on our outpost thinking our men were inside at that moment. Our sister’s agencies also give us back up when it appears smugglers want to overpower us. I have reasons to suspect that bandits are working in league with smugglers. Why I say this is because there are times the bandits will strike shooting sporadically and smuggling activities will take place within the same period. It is not impossible that there are some form of criminal collaboration between the bandits and smugglers based on the coincidence of simultaneous operations between them.

    To what extent have traditional rulers in the border communities supported your fight against smuggling?

    They are strategic stakeholders we have to relate with. We interface with them because they are close to their people. Even the big traditional rulers, like the Sultan, Emirs and many others were not left out. Whenever we have a visit to our men on the fields, we include the traditional rulers in our itineraries. We educate and re-educate them on smuggling and its dangers. We approach them in ways that does not criminalise everybody in the community. While we are applying our enforcement powers, on one hand, we use enlightenment on another hand and also the traditional rulers. We tell them about the ills of smuggling and its effects on the people. We cite issues of insurgency and other insecurity that could be fueled by smuggling and they agree with us. We remind them that smuggling contributes to the killing of local industries and throwing a lot of people out of jobs. We apply wisdom and tact to seek the traditional rulers’ cooperation. I also encourage my men on the field to always be close to the traditional rulers to get their confidence and it has been working. We have had instances where traditional rulers gave us information and we have achieved some results with it in the course of our operations. If we were confrontational with them and make their entire communities look criminalised, they will not be happy to offer us any form of support. I must tell you, our strategies are working.

    What major challenges do you face ?

    I took a study of the area comprising 10 states, including the Federal Capital Territory. I discovered that most of the states are border states, meaning the Customs will have to relate with some largely rural communities with porous entry points into the country. The areas are vast and not all the places can be manned at the same time. My findings revealed that there are over 2000 illegal routes leading into Nigeria from the border routes. Another challenge is the more daring nature of smugglers. They have become more deadly and more sophisticated. We have realised that most of the border communities are aiding and abetting smuggling. In ignorance, they believe smugglers are doing a legitimate business. This is one strong area members of the press have to come in to help sensitise the communities.

  • ‘Smugglers are after us for spoiling their business’

    Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection Aminu Dahiru led the destruction of N14.8 billion worth of tramadol in Sagamu, Ogun State. He spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the event. Muyiwa Lucas was there.

    How do you react to the destruction of prohibited drugs by Customs?

    What you see here is a product of teamwork. We are cooperating with ourselves to fight crimes and overcome the illicit trade in prohibited drugs. This is one way to protect the lives of our citizens from destruction and save the society from the many dangers of criminality associated with trade and consumption of illicit drugs. What you are seeing here is a product of uncompromising enforcement coupled with diligent investigations by customs officers from various commands where these seizures were made. In the course of our anti smuggling assignment, some of our men came under attack, rejected bribes, got wounded and some even died in the line of duty. We are not deterred. We are forging ahead and will remain resolute in this battle against drug smuggling and any form of smuggling. By the grace of God, we shall continue to be victorious.

    For this destruction, I am congratulating members of my committee for carrying out this national duty. Because this is beyond state, it is a national duty, service to humanity and as service to humanity don’t forget, it’s service to God. I sincerely appreciate them and I equally appreciate the Controller-General of Customs as well as Director-General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for giving us the entire enabling environment to carry out this assignment. At the initial stage, we were scared that we may not be able to do it, but with the assistance of other sister agencies like Nigerian Army, we have made history and I want to congratulate Nigerians for being part of this. I said sometime ago that Nigeria Customs Service has promised hence forth to be celebrating Nigeria at every moment and this is exactly what we are doing.

    Is this the first time you are destroying drugs of this magnitude under this administration? 

    Yes. This is the first time we are destroying such an amount of tramadol. If these seizures were not made and dangerous drugs of this quantity were allowed into the society, we will have huge problems on our hands as a people and a country.

    How would you describe the synergy between Customs and other regulatory agencies?

    It is very good and has continued to improve. The synergy that has been existing between us and other sister agencies has been commendable. There is this cooperation that where a regulatory body is concerned with a seizure or importation, Customs draw their attention to it. When  we  have a seizure or consignment meant for them we normally hand it over to them. For example, when we seized items that have anything to do with the ecosystem, we hand over to the National Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESREA), likewise any hard drugs like marijuana, we hand over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Now this is for NAFDAC to regularise. So that is why we are partnering with them for this destruction. The drugs being destroyed today is a meagre volume compared with the cumulative quantity we have been handing over to NAFDAC and NDLEA over the years.

    Are these all the drugs seized nationwide or your committee has more seizures in other parts of the country?

    We are starting the destruction here because of the high volume of seizures made in the South West where a lot of Customs activities take place. We shall be doing similar destructions in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Bauchi where we have Customs zones. Residents and stakeholders in these areas should await our invitations soon. Even as we are here, some of our anti-smuggling officers have been receiving threats for their exploits. Smugglers of these drugs are unhappy because we stopped them from making money through destruction of lives.

  • Forwarders deplore Customs portal

    The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has expressed dissatisfaction with it called the slow pace of the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS 2). It also described the platform as “static“, ”inept” and “retrograde” in operation.

    It urged the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to engage stake-holders in port operations before embarking on innovations to boost trade facilitation.

    NICIS is a portal introduced by the Customs to enhance,  secure and facilitate trade. It is aimed at  harmonising and integrating trade chain.

    Since its introduction in 2017, it has aided trade facilitation and the ease of doing business at the ports.

    But to NAGAFF president Dr Increase Uche, NICIS 2 has failed to meet stakeholders’ expectation in the clearance of goods from the ports.

    According to him, the only way to improve on facilitation of trade is to embrace the right portal.

    Uche noted that during ASYCUDA’s era, the traders and Customs zones, facilitated trade.

    He said:”You can’t be subjecting all the cargoes to physical examination; you have to provide scanners because it is long overdue. Since 2012, the portal has remained the same. Customs could not continue from where the service providers ended.

    “Even the new system that customs introduced from NICIS 1 to NICIS 2, it has not really worked as we expected.

    “Whether they are still doing the pilotage stage. But if indeed they have started full implementation of NICIS 2, we need to see change, we need to see it reflect in the pattern in which things are done and the way businesses are conducted in the port.

    “As at the last time, I was still telling them that we are yet to see the impact of NICIS 2 because what we saw during ASYCUDA 2.7 and 3.0 seemed to be better than what we are seeing today.

    ‘’In NICIS 2, there has not been a clear departure from what obtained before it’s introduction.

    “Formally, when we had the traders zone and customs zone, some of these non-compliance were almost reducing.

    “All of a sudden, the NICIS 2 came up and the trader zone was terminated and every other thing was jampacked and there was no more clear cut procedure.

    “Immediately you do your declaration, you wouldn’t know where you are going until you bring the container out.

    “Everything you see in terms of interruptions from intelligence unit, investigative unit and others up to nine of them.”

    It has never been like this before.

    “What we are advising is that stakeholders input have to be included before introducing these current regimes.” he stressed.

  • ‘Eighth National Assembly failed in oversight duty’ 

    National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents President Lucky Amiwero has said the Eighth National Assembly failed in its oversight function in the industry.

    According to him, the legislators failed to ensure that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) obeyed extant laws.

    The legislators, he said, had powers to prevent corruption, ensure that funds are used as appropriated and insist that MDAs stay focused on their mandates.

    Most parastatals, he said, did not meet stakeholders’ expectations  that would have impacted on the economy.

    “The National Assembly has function of oversight but they did not do well in the last assembly as far as the maritime industry is concerned.

    “They were supposed to ensure that parstatals such as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) and all others worked in accordance with their laws.

    “For instance, NIMASA spent so much time and money organising conferences and seminars as if that was its major function. We expect the new committees in charge of maritime in the Senate and House of Representatives to check these excesses

    “NIMASA is supposed to be committed in establishing enabling environment for indigenous operators through fleet expansion, provision of maritime infrastructure, development of indigenous manpower, among others.

    “It is supposed to synchronise its operations with Section 105 of the Local Content Act without losing sight of Sections 16 and 17 of the NIMASA Act.

    “The non-disbursement of Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund ( CVFF) is not good for the industry despite several assurances given by government,” he said.

    On the maritime related bills, which President Muhammadu Buhari did not sign, Amiwero suggested that experts be invited to look into the matter.

    NPA, according to him, lacked clearly spelt out duties in a port concession regime as its Act does not provide for it.

    He advised the Ninth National Assembly against politicising its role, arguing that the interest of all should be the overriding consideration in law making.

    Buhari cited the proposed mode of funding for Nigerian Maritime University for not signing the bill.

    No reason was given for not signing the bill establishing the National Transport Commission which sought to replace NSC.

  • ‘Smugglers are after us for spoiling their business’

    Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection Aminu Dahiru led the destruction of N14.8 billion worth of tramadol in Sagamu, Ogun State. He spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the event. Muyiwa Lucas was there.

    How do you react to the destruction of prohibited drugs by Customs?

    What you see here is a product of teamwork. We are cooperating with ourselves to fight crimes and overcome the illicit trade in prohibited drugs. This is one way to protect the lives of our citizens from destruction and save the society from the many dangers of criminality associated with trade and consumption of illicit drugs. What you are seeing here is a product of uncompromising enforcement coupled with diligent investigations by customs officers from various commands where these seizures were made. In the course of our anti smuggling assignment, some of our men came under attack, rejected bribes, got wounded and some even died in the line of duty. We are not deterred. We are forging ahead and will remain resolute in this battle against drug smuggling and any form of smuggling. By the grace of God, we shall continue to be victorious.

    For this destruction, I am congratulating members of my committee for carrying out this national duty. Because this is beyond state, it is a national duty, service to humanity and as service to humanity don’t forget, it’s service to God. I sincerely appreciate them and I equally appreciate the Controller-General of Customs as well as Director-General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for giving us the entire enabling environment to carry out this assignment. At the initial stage, we were scared that we may not be able to do it, but with the assistance of other sister agencies like Nigerian Army, we have made history and I want to congratulate Nigerians for being part of this. I said sometime ago that Nigeria Customs Service has promised hence forth to be celebrating Nigeria at every moment and this is exactly what we are doing.

    Is this the first time you are destroying drugs of this magnitude under this administration? 

    Yes. This is the first time we are destroying such an amount of tramadol. If these seizures were not made and dangerous drugs of this quantity were allowed into the society, we will have huge problems on our hands as a people and a country.

    How would you describe the synergy between Customs and other regulatory agencies?

    It is very good and has continued to improve. The synergy that has been existing between us and other sister agencies has been commendable. There is this cooperation that where a regulatory body is concerned with a seizure or importation, Customs draw their attention to it. When  we  have a seizure or consignment meant for them we normally hand it over to them. For example, when we seized items that have anything to do with the ecosystem, we hand over to the National Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESREA), likewise any hard drugs like marijuana, we hand over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Now this is for NAFDAC to regularise. So that is why we are partnering with them for this destruction. The drugs being destroyed today is a meagre volume compared with the cumulative quantity we have been handing over to NAFDAC and NDLEA over the years.

    Are these all the drugs seized nationwide or your committee has more seizures in other parts of the country?

    We are starting the destruction here because of the high volume of seizures made in the South West where a lot of Customs activities take place. We shall be doing similar destructions in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Bauchi where we have Customs zones. Residents and stakeholders in these areas should await our invitations soon. Even as we are here, some of our anti-smuggling officers have been receiving threats for their exploits. Smugglers of these drugs are unhappy because we stopped them from making money through destruction of lives.

  • ‘Eighth National Assembly failed in oversight duty’ 

    National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents President Lucky Amiwero has said the Eighth National Assembly failed in its oversight function in the industry.

    According to him, the legislators failed to ensure that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) obeyed extant laws.

    The legislators, he said, had powers to prevent corruption, ensure that funds are used as appropriated and insist that MDAs stay focused on their mandates.

    Most parastatals, he said, did not meet stakeholders’ expectations  that would have impacted on the economy.

    “The National Assembly has function of oversight but they did not do well in the last assembly as far as the maritime industry is concerned.

    “They were supposed to ensure that parstatals such as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) and all others worked in accordance with their laws.

    “For instance, NIMASA spent so much time and money organising conferences and seminars as if that was its major function. We expect the new committees in charge of maritime in the Senate and House of Representatives to check these excesses

    “NIMASA is supposed to be committed in establishing enabling environment for indigenous operators through fleet expansion, provision of maritime infrastructure, development of indigenous manpower, among others.

    “It is supposed to synchronise its operations with Section 105 of the Local Content Act without losing sight of Sections 16 and 17 of the NIMASA Act.

    “The non-disbursement of Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund ( CVFF) is not good for the industry despite several assurances given by government,” he said.

    On the maritime related bills, which President Muhammadu Buhari did not sign, Amiwero suggested that experts be invited to look into the matter.

    NPA, according to him, lacked clearly spelt out duties in a port concession regime as its Act does not provide for it.

    He advised the Ninth National Assembly against politicising its role, arguing that the interest of all should be the overriding consideration in law making.

    Buhari cited the proposed mode of funding for Nigerian Maritime University for not signing the bill.

    No reason was given for not signing the bill establishing the National Transport Commission which sought to replace NSC.

  • Forwarders deplore Customs portal

    The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has expressed dissatisfaction with it called the slow pace of the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS 2). It also described the platform as “static“, ”inept” and “retrograde” in operation.

    It urged the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to engage stake-holders in port operations before embarking on innovations to boost trade facilitation.

    NICIS is a portal introduced by the Customs to enhance,  secure and facilitate trade. It is aimed at harmonising and integrating trade chain.

    Since its introduction in 2017, it has aided trade facilitation and the ease of doing business at the ports.

    But to NAGAFF president Dr Increase Uche, NICIS 2 has failed to meet stakeholders’ expectation in the clearance of goods from the ports.

    According to him, the only way to improve on facilitation of trade is to embrace the right portal.

    Uche noted that during ASYCUDA’s era, the traders and Customs zones, facilitated trade.

    He said:”You can’t be subjecting all the cargoes to physical examination; you have to provide scanners because it is long overdue. Since 2012, the portal has remained the same. Customs could not continue from where the service providers ended.

    “Even the new system that customs introduced from NICIS 1 to NICIS 2, it has not really worked as we expected.

    “Whether they are still doing the pilotage stage. But if indeed they have started full implementation of NICIS 2, we need to see change, we need to see it reflect in the pattern in which things are done and the way businesses are conducted in the port.

    “As at the last time, I was still telling them that we are yet to see the impact of NICIS 2 because what we saw during ASYCUDA 2.7 and 3.0 seemed to be better than what we are seeing today.

    ‘’In NICIS 2, there has not been a clear departure from what obtained before it’s introduction.

    “Formally, when we had the traders zone and customs zone, some of these non-compliance were almost reducing.

    “All of a sudden, the NICIS 2 came up and the trader zone was terminated and every other thing was jampacked and there was no more clear cut procedure.

    “Immediately you do your declaration, you wouldn’t know where you are going until you bring the container out.

    “Everything you see in terms of interruptions from intelligence unit, investigative unit and others up to nine of them.”

    It has never been like this before.

    “What we are advising is that stakeholders input have to be included before introducing these current regimes.” he stressed.

  • NAHCO acquires, installs new set of equipment

    The Nigeria Aviation Handling Company, NAHCOAviance, Plc has acquired and installed state-of-the-art set of equipment for effective service delivery in the industry.

    The Group Managing Director, NAHCOAviance, Mrs. Olatokunbo Fagbemi, explained that the feat, which is part of the company’s five years transformational plan is to further position the brand as one of the leading aviation handling firms in Africa.

    Fagbemi, who spoke at a pre-annual general meeting forum in Kano, yesterday, said the aviation handling firm is set to use the development to sustain its high level of service delivery across both domestic and international airports in Nigeria and indirectly boost its revenue.

    Some of the equipment are gangway  (Passengers’ steps), which can be used by wide and narrow-bodied Aircrafts  to convey passengers or engineers; high loaders, which are used to offload containers from the aircraft; Ground power units used to power aircrafts during flight planning; Push backs; air condition units, forklifts, and tractors among others.

    She said, “New investments in Ground support equipment (GSEs) will help reduce operations cost, as infrastructure failure at the airport, and aging equipment lead to increased maintenance cost. With the injection of new groundsupport equipment and ongoing improvement of airport facilities, will help to manage operating cost down, and increase profitability to the delight of our shareholders.

    Read also: Nahco, Notore, others make NSE’s benchmark stocks

    “We are deliberate and focused on improving and turning around the company. We will focus majorly on strategic initiatives that will deliver operational efficiency and impact the bottom-line.”

    She added that the company will in the immediate period support its growth withlong-term loans, and may consider accessing the capital market to raise long-term funds to support its long-term growth.She said: “One of the first things that happened when I came is that since logistics is not just about the air, it is also about land and sea, our focus now is: how do we diversify our business to begin to look at the other modes of transportation?”

    Speaking on the development, the Chief Operating Officer, NAHCO Aviance, Mr. Herbert Odika, lauded the effort of the new management of the company as he is optimistic that the new set of equipment would aid service delivery and help staff turnaround aircraft within the record time across domestic and the international airports in Nigeria.

    He said, “Aviation has changed in terms of service delivery as we work with Service Level Agreement, which means NAHCO as a service provider to the airlines would have to meet tight deadlines or be penalised. Our target is to be aleader in the continent’s aviation handling business and that is where we belong.

    We have highly trained maintenance team on ground to ensure the new sets of equipment are adequately maintained. ”

    According to him, NAHCOAviance is well-positioned to take advantage of the positive growth potential in the aviation industry in Africa and Nigeria, and will continue to invest in various businesses to expand and diversify revenue base and deliver improved returns to shareholders.

    Odika further said the management is mindful of the challenges in the operating environment such as liberalisation of the Nigerian market, increased competition, pricing pressures, safety & security, and business model obsolescence, and has put enough measures in its growth plan to mitigate possible risks to ensure stable growth in the years ahead.

     

  • WACT lifts Onne Port with $10m facility upgrade

    The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) yesterday launched two new Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHCs) $10 million (about N3.6 billion) for the discharge of cargoes at the terminal.

    The Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHCs), which is coming on the heels of 10 specialised terminal trucks and two new reach stackers, are expected to increase the turnaround time of vessels at the terminal.

    The two new container cargoes handling facilities would bring WACT, one of the most efficient container terminals outside Lagos, at par with its peers in Apapa, and Tin Can Island Ports, in terms of equipment and operational efficiency.

    Speaking at the inauguration in Onne, Rivers State, the Managing Director, WACT, Aamir Mirza, said the massive investment at the terminal has attracted 700 direct and 2000 indirect employment in the country.

    He said the company has recorded tremendous growth of 17 per cent in 2017, 21 per cent growth in 2018 and 20 per cent growth attained so far this year.

    Mizra described the $10 million investment as a key enabler to customers’ satisfaction.

    “Our vision is to make WACT the best performing container terminal in West Africa. We believe this vision can be realised early enough if the government can support us to reduce the challenges of security by ensuring the safety of vessels on our waters and improve road connectivity, among others,” he said.

    Mirza said the cranes would enable volume growth resulting in increased productivity; reduced port stay and provide bunker savings; improve reliability in cargo delivery times; reduce the impact of crane breakdown/idle time on overall terminal operations, and increase customers satisfaction and speedy delivery.

    Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC), Hassan Bello, said the new cranes will aid efficiency and improve vessels turn around time at the terminal

    He reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to encouraging more importers to patronise Onne Port, adding that government is determined to see shipping make significant contributions to the economy.

    He said: “Our terminals need to grow and show efficiency. I am happy with the competition because this is how to compete. We need options, the choice for shippers where they will discharge their cargoes.

    Read also: How we’re attracting more cargoes to Onne Port

    “The commissioning of these Mobiles Harbour Cranes is no doubt significant because it will improve efficiency. We are happy with the 30 per cent increase in volumes of cargoes and the long run, more Nigerians would be employed and it will make the terminal operation contribute to the economy.

    “The more efficiency we have, the more cargoes we will get because Nigeria is a natural harbour due to the available market and I am happy today that this terminal is becoming one of the most efficient we have in West Africa and this is gladdening our hearts, and the main reasons for concessioning the port to the private sector will be realised by this terminal and we will use this terminal to benchmark the performance of other terminals.”

    The Managing Director, Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA), Umana Okon Umana, lauded WACT for making the nation meet the objectives of establishing the free zone.

    He promised to run the free zone professionally and assured of the provision of dedicated power to the zone for efficient service delivery.

    He said: “For us, the fact that WACT is expanding their operation is a show of confidence they have in the economy and confidence they have in Nigeria and the MD said they have sent Nigerians out for training because this is very specialised equipment and as we know; the objectives of free zones is to attract FDI that will support job creation, support transfer of skills and technology and what government loses by tax revenues, government takes back in employment, skills and transfer of skills.”

    The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, lauded the company for acquiring the new cranes, even as she urged shippers to patronise Onne Port.

    Usman, who was represented by the Onne Port Manager, Al-Hassan Ismaila, said the government is looking into the security of vessels on the nation’s high sea.

    “The Onne Port is a nexus to connecting the North-East, North-Central, South-South and South-East, so cargoes for this section of the country is expected to be discharged through this port.

    “We are calling on shippers to patronise Onne Port because of the friendly environment, and the synergy between the agencies of government operating at the port,” she added.

    The ceremony was witnessed by several stakeholders, including the representatives of shipping companies, Customs, freight forwarders, truck operators, importers, exporters and government agencies.