The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has awarded PrimePort Logistics, a Port Harcourt based Logistics Company specialising in clearing and forwarding for being the best supporting indigenous company at the Port Harcourt (PH) International Airport.
According to FAAN, the award was given to PrimePort because of its unflinching support to the Port Harcourt airport.
The award which took place at PH international airport terminal was attended by stakeholders, airlines and top government officials and the Rivers State Governor in Port Harcourt.
Speaking shortly after the award ceremony, Femi Adewunmi, the founder and CEO of PrimePort Logistics appreciated FAAN for the award, stressing that awards like this encourage indigenous companies like PrimePort to do better and continually strive for further recognition and success.
“One of the challenges in Nigerians is that we always have this attitude of looking for what people are not doing right, whereas we have a lot of successes we can talk about and it is very important that those successes are recognised in order to induce more successes as this will be reflected in increased employment for the local indigene, PrimePort has clearly demonstrated this since we started our operations at the airport”
“PrimePort has grown its staff strength organically and continue to so, with a good percentage from the local & host communities” This award sets a new benchmark for other players at PH airport indigenous to attain if they want to take the award from us next year,” Adewunmi said.
He further explained that the award makes PrimePort feel a huge sense of belonging, knowing that FAAN recognises it not only as a stakeholder but also as a customer.
He noted that the award ceremony also provides an avenue for interaction and networking with other stakeholders, which help in relationship building, nonetheless, it is only once a year which will invariably help boost the efficiency and success at PH airport.
“This award has a lot of value. It validates our standard most especially to foreign stakeholders and potential foreign investors. It provides credibility to PrimePort especially in the area of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)” the CEO of PrimePort Logistics said.
Speaking about the role of FAAN as the gatekeeper of PH airport, Adewunmi said, “Back in 2014, FAAN was instrumental in validating the idea that I had in solving the huge gap in the freight forwarding process in PH airport. I approached FAAN and they coordinated all the key stakeholders at the airport including customs, security agencies, the airlines, and the handling companies. FAAN stretches beyond airport operations
PrimePort invested in walkie talkies and gave all the stakeholders at the cargo airport far back as 2015. Some of them are still using them till today, these are some of the contributions we made towards better operations at the airport
We also realised, that a lot of people were flying in and out of PH but were not aware of a functional cargo business existed, this was an awareness problem hence why a lot of PH bound cargo is routed via Lagos
“So, we knew at the time we came into the market that awareness was a big problem. So, one of the things we did was to work with FAAN in locating our operational office strategically, in a place where everyone going in and out of the airport will see that there is a clearing and forwarding company around, thereby creating the cargo operation that existed at the airport,” he said.
