Onne Multipurpose Terminal (OMT) has commenced container operations at Onne Port, thereby doubling Eastern Nigeria’s modern container handling capacity and providing a the catalyst to the region’s economic growth.
Just recently, MSC Floriana, a vessel belonging to the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), berthed at the terminal located at Berths 9-11 at Federal Ocean Terminal, Onne Port on May 2 and offloaded 1,297 containers.
OMT, a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), a global port operator, is ideally placed to serve shipping lines and Nigeria’s importers and exporters. Backed by a financially strong investor, OMT is a state-of-the-art facility with 750 meters of deep-water quay, 22 hectares of yard area, two of the biggest mobile harbour cranes in Nigeria, ample yard equipment and the latest IT systems powering operations and planning.
Robert Uljan, head, Operations of OMT said the call of MSC Floriana marked the culmination of more than one year of preparations and investments by OMT.
“We are all very proud of the successful operation of the vessel. Our advanced cargo handling systems worked well and our operations and technical teams, all recruited from Rivers State, hit the ground running, and performed very successfully. We are very confident we can build on this achievement and progressively ramp up performance over the quay and landside to the benefit of all of our customers, shipping lines, and cargo owners,” Uljan said.
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Enrique K. Razon, chairman and president of ICTSI, noted that it was just the first step as the company is bullish on the long-term prospects for the Nigerian economy.
“We are ready to invest significant funds in OMT. To date, ICTSI has invested USD$35 million in state-of-the-art equipment, IT systems and personnel training. The next step will be major infrastructure works as well as investments in additional and bigger equipment totalling USD$100 million. We will progressively align OMT’s facilities and service capacity to the needs of the diverse customer base that the terminal is intended to serve,” Razon said.
BusinessDay understands that OMT will be one of the first terminals worldwide implementing a cloud-based terminal operating system.
To spur growth in Onne as a multipurpose port in Nigeria’s Eastern region which is already an oil and gas powerhouse and is now fast emerging as a logistics hub, OMT plans to invest in further container handling equipment, IT, oil and gas and other general cargo handling equipment, warehouses, workshops, better access roads and modern health and safety facilities and processes.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the Nigerian Ports Authority to realise this project. Berths 9-11 had been languishing, lying virtually unused for the last decade. Now, in partnership with NPA, we are bringing the area to life, adding capacity and competition to Onne Port. This is sorely needed as the port is currently experiencing acute congestion with respect to container traffic,” said Jacob Gulmann, managing director of OMT.
According to him, the company was happy to be able to hire and train hundreds of talented employees during this period of challenges to the oil and gas sector which has hit the local communities particularly hard.
In 2020, ICTSI signed a contract with the Nigerian Ports Authority to manage, operate and develop terminal facilities at Berths 9-11, Federal Ocean Terminal, Onne Port. The terminal commenced operations in the first half of 2021.
