Shipside Drydock Limited, an indigenous ship repair, and maintenance facility in Okirika Creek, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said it has serviced over 400 vessels from August of 2015 it started operations till date.
Speaking at a recent virtual roundtable with newsmen, Sunday Esezobor, the deputy managing director and business lead of Shipside Drydock Limited, said the 5,000-tons capacity floating dock has been positioned to not only be a leader in the Nigerian maritime sector but to be the West African dry-docking hub.
According to him, the survey carried out by the company before investing millions of dollars into its facility shows that 70 percent of the vessels plying West African coast are of 5,000-ton capacity, which proves the market size for the ship repair yard was huge.
Esezobor said that referrals from satisfied clients, and timely delivery of projects, have propelled the company to a market leadership position within its seven years of operation.
He said the floating dockyard has been saving costs for ship owners by reducing the rate at which they tow their vessels abroad for repairs.
This, he said, will not only grow the industry but also save foreign exchange for the country.
Esezobor said the ship repair and maintenance sector has the potential to create jobs if spare parts and steel are readily available, and if the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is encouraged to set up facilities in Nigeria.
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This, he said, will reduce capital flights as ship owners stop going overseas to maintain and repair their ships.
In terms of challenges, he said, the company usually experiences downtime while trying to source spare parts needed to carry out vessel repairs, and they are mostly not manufactured in Nigeria.
“Sourcing of steel is also a huge challenge because Nigeria does not produce steel in-country but depends on importation to bridge that gap. This has become a big challenge given the volatility and high rate of foreign exchange in Nigeria,” Esezobor said.
On what government can do to aid operations of the shipyard, he said, “There are a lot of regulatory charges for shipyards, and they include the Nigerian Ports Authority’s pilotage charge, the National Inland Waterways Authority tow fees, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency fees among others. If these charges are paid by shipyards they will not break even that is why we call on government agencies to help in reducing some of these charges to encourage shipyards.”
He also called on the government to help by reducing the regulatory fees that ship owners pay to use the shipyards.
According to him, shipyards are critical to economic development as it helps to create employment and reduce capital, thus the need for government to not only reduce regulatory charges but also help to enforce standard regulation in the sector.
Shipside Drydock is a maintenance and repair facility that houses eight state-of-the-art workshops for total maintenance and repair of all types of marine and offshore vessels.
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