Tin-Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), one of the leading port operators in Nigeria, has been conferred with the Terminal Operator of the Year Award by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
The award was bestowed on TICT recently in Lagos at the NIMASA Corporate Dinner and Merit Awards chaired by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of State, and attended by the representative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, and Dakuku Peterside, director-general of NIMASA among other dignitaries.
TICT owns and operates Terminal B of the Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos, which has three berths with operation capacity of 360,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a shore length of 770 meters and a backyard of 240,000 square meters.
Since it won the Federal Government’s concession to develop and operate Terminal B of the Tin-Can Island Port in 2006, TICT has invested about N70 billion (USD225 million) on the provision and development of facilities at the terminal.
BusinessDay understands that the terminal has also improved on service delivery and trained top quality manpower, giving rise to professional and effective service delivery at the port. Its ship turnaround time remains one of the best, as vessels spend only a few hours at berthing point to discharge their consignments, as against over 30 days spent for the same purpose before the 2006 port concession.
Recall that in November 2017, TICT made history with the unveiling of the first set of female harbour crane and Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) operators in Africa. They include – Oni Taiwo Omotayo; Tina Onwudiwe; Adewale Adegoroye; Adeniran Maltida and Ajayi Oluwaseun.
“What is interesting is that we were able to bring in women operators into our industrial equipment conduct, which means that it is an additional opportunity for women in Nigeria and also a role model within and beyond the continent that women can actually turn into equipment operators in what has traditionally been a man dominated industry.
“Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and Nigeria is also showing the way for women employment into the port industry. So, it is setting the pace for others within Nigeria and Africa as well,” TICT management said during the unveiling of the female crane operators in 2017.
Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who was guest at the unveiling of the women crane operators had expressed delight and commended TICT for the initiative.
“I will like to see more women being engaged in port operations. TICT has done something very impressive with the fact that they have realised the skill and capacity of women and have trained them and engage them to do this job,” Usman had said.
The Terminal Operator of the Year Award was received on behalf of TICT by Maryanne Olapade, head, Legal Services of the company.
Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie
