As part of its effort to ensure the successful arrival of the hull of the $3.8 billion Egina Floating, Production, Supply and Offloading (FPSO) oil production vessel being fabricated by Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI) in South Korea, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has commissioned four newly acquired tug boats, built by the Dutch shipbuilder, Damen Shipyard in Netherlands.
The acquisition of the tugboats, which industry close watchers, believed was timely, will effectively give the required marine services to oceangoing vessels calling Nigerian seaports and the expected FPSO vessel, which would be integrated in the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Lagos.
Speaking at the commissioning of the four tugboats with Roys Royce powered engine, in Lagos yesterday, Hadiza Bala-Usman, the managing director of NPA, who disclosed that the authority invested the sum of $30 million in the acquisition of the four brand new ships, also stated that the approval for the building of the vessels were contained in the 2015 fiscal allocation of NPA.
According to her, the vessels, which took about 18 months to be built, brought the number of NPA owned tugboats to nine, and would not only enhance towage services rendered to ships, but would also ensure safe navigation of ships into the ports.
“Tug boats assist vessels calling at the seaports to anchor properly, fight fire incident and use for search and rescue operations. The acquisition of these four boats enables NPA to efficiently deliver on its marine services as required in the concession agreement and help bridge the gap of inadequate tugs for pulling and pushing ships to anchor.
NPA, Usman stated, is determined to provide enabling environment for smooth and efficient port operations. She further added that the authority will ensure it delivers efficient services to shipping liners and other port operators.
In his goodwill message, Emmanuel Adesoye, chairman, NPA board of directors, who stated that the timing for the acquisition of the vessels is apt given the Federal Government’s economic diversification drive, said that the vessels would become an instrument for revenue generation for the NPA.
He however suggested that time has come for Nigeria to begin to save the capital flight involved in taking most of these engineering jobs to Europe by developing capacity for Nigerians to build ships in-country.
David Inglis, director, SHI-MCI Free Zone, the joint venture company representing SHI and LADOL in the Egina FPSO project built for Total, congratulated the management of the NPA for the authority’s investment in the acquisition of the tugs, which he noted would aid the safe navigation of the FPSO through the Lagos harbor to the LADOL Free Zone.
At the arrival of the hull of the vessel, Inglis said, SHI would integrate the vessel in Nigeria using Nigeria engineers. “The magnitude of the vessel is enormous and it is 320 meters long, 45 meters tall and 65 meters wide.”
Ferguson Bobai, flag officer command (FOC) Western Naval Command, who said the acquisition of the 60 tonnes tugboats would help to achieve quick turnaround time of vessels as shipping companies would no longer have to rent tugboats or face delay to anchor, added that it would fast track the delivery of cargo to importers’ warehouse.
