Nigeria’s maritime strength has received a major boost with the successful berthing of MV LADY JANE, a vessel with length overall of 295 metres and draft of 12 metres at the WACT Terminal in Onne Port Complex.
The game-changing nature of the berthing lied in the fact that the vessel, which sailed in from Majuro in the Marshall Islands is discharging 840 TEUS and loading 1,060 TEUS,, 50 per cent of which are agricultural commodities such as cashew nuts, sesame seed and cassia tora seed among others.
The latest feat came on the heels of the reception at Onne Port of the first ever export-laden barge containing 120 TEUs of Cocoa to Belgium via Cotonou earlier this year.
Although Onne Port Complex has traditionally been known as a logistics hub for oil and gas services, the implementation of fresh initiatives deployed by the Bello Koko-administration at Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) had resulted in a 30 per cent increase in container traffic at the close of the year 2021.
Whilst the historic berthing of the MV Maersk Stadelhorn, a 300 metres LOA container vessel earlier on the 15th of August, 2020 tested the navigability of the channel, MV Lady Jane has proven the capability of the channel for sustained container vessel traffic.
Speaking to stakeholders who came to welcome the vessel which berthed at about 3pm on 13th April,2022, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko Authority (NPA), said the NPA has again proven its readiness to consolidate on the growth of container vessel traffic in the eastern ports.
Bello-Koko, who was represented by the Port Manager Stanley Yitnoesaid that what the milestone signposted was the fact the initiatives of the Authority geared towards repositioning the eastern ports for productivity are yielding results and that Onne Port Complex is fast becoming an attraction for container vessel traffic.
“However, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels, we must continually strive to surpass stakeholders’ expectations,” Bello-Koko said.
He commended the pilots for the professionalism demonstrated by the effortless and safe berthing of the vessel.
He assured that in addition to the palliative works that have already begun on the arterial roads in Onne Port, full scale rehabilitation of infrastructure as well as improvement of port security through illumination and deployment of access control to check unauthorized entry was top on management priority.