With $10 million investment in the acquisition of mobile harbour crane, the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) Nigeria Limited has now positioned to compete favourable with the two major economic gateways in Lagos, Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports.
This investment, industry stakeholders say, is in line with the Federal Government plans to decongest Lagos ports by making Eastern Ports viable for shipping lines.
Speaking at the commissioning of the harbour cranes in Onne, Rivers State on Wednesday, Aamir Mirza, managing director of WACT, said the investment at the terminal had attracted 700 direct and 2000 indirect employment in the country.
Mirza said the company had recorded tremendous growth of 17 percent in 2017, 21 percent growth in 2018 and 20 percent growth attained so far this year.
He described the $10 million investment as a key enabler to customers’ satisfaction, saying, “Our vision is to become the best performing container terminal in West Africa. We believe this vision can be realised early enough if the government can support by reducing the challenges of ensuring safety of vessels on our waters, improving road connectivity and among others.”
He said the cranes would enable volume growth resulting in increased productivity; reduce cargo dwell time; improve reliability in cargo delivery times; reduce the impact of crane break down/idle time on overall terminal operations; increase customers satisfaction and speedy cargo delivery.
Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who commended the company for the developing the terminal in line with international standards, urged shippers to patronise Onne Port.
Represented by Al-Hassan Ismail, port manager, Usman said the government was looking into the security of vessels on the nation’s high sea, and pledged that the NPA would continue to sweep the channel to aid navigation into the port.
“The Onne Port is a nexus to connecting the North-East, North-Central, South-South and South-East, so cargoes for this section of the country is expected to be discharged through this port.
“We are calling on shippers to patronize Onne Port because of the friendly environment, and the synergy between the agencies of government operating at the port,” she said.
Hassan Bello, executive secretary, Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC), said the new facility would aid the efficiency and improve the dwell time of cargoes.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to encouraging more importers to patronise Onne Port, saying the government is determined in seeing shipping contributes to the economy.
“Our terminals need to grow and show efficiency, I am happy with the competition because this will bring in the port industry. Our importers need options and choice to shippers where they will commission their cargoes. The commissioning of these mobiles harbour cranes is no doubt significant because that goes to efficiency. We are happy with the increase in volume and that more Nigerians are going to be employed to enable the terminal to contribute to the economy,” he said.
According to Bello, efficiency will result to increased cargo at the port, adding that Nigeria is a natural hub due to the market that is available, and that Onne terminal is becoming one of the most efficient in West Africa.
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