On Tuesday, the Tin-Can Island Container Terminal Ltd (TICT) received the MSC MAUREEN, the largest containership ever to berth at Lagos Ports.
The vessel, owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is currently sailing under the flag of Panama. It is 6,750 twenty-foot equivalent units of containers (TEU) ship with a draught of 12 meters, a length overall of 300 meters, and a beam of 40 meters that brought containerised goods into the country.
Speaking at the event, Andrew Lynch, the managing director of MSC Nigeria Limited, said the successful berthing of the ship will bring significant economic benefits to Nigeria.
In addition to the economies of scale that the large vessel brings, he said, it will also boost Nigeria’s export drive as the vessel is also expected to depart with export commodities meant for the international market.
“This feat will help us reduce costs and create economies of scale for importers and exporters. Tin-Can and Apapa Ports remain very important for the Nigerian economy so if larger vessels come here, it will be a great benefit to everyone. We have seen that we can do it and this will make Lagos more competitive because the larger the vessel, the lower the freight rate,” Lynch said.
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Edward Ancly, the chief operations officer of TICT, described the berthing of MSC MAUREEN as a great achievement.
“It is a major change in our operation and will give more capacity to the shipping lines and bring more business to Nigeria. I am very glad it happened in TICT,” he said.
Buba Jubril, the port manager of Tin-Can Island Port Complex, commended officials of the Nigerian Ports Authority for working together with the ship crew, the terminal operator, and other relevant stakeholders to successfully berth the ship.
He assured all shipping companies, importers, and exporters doing business at the port of prompt, efficient, and professional service at all times.
Aliyu Gambo, the deputy comptroller of Customs in charge of enforcement at the Tin-Can Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, who represented the command, said the successful berthing of the ship will translate to more revenue for the Federal Government.
TICT is the operator of Terminal B, Tin-Can Island Port Complex in Lagos. It is Nigeria’s second busiest container terminal. The terminal has three berths with a shore length of 770 meters and a storage yard of 240,000 square meters.
