… focuses on improved maritime trade, recovery of lost transshipment cargo
Operators of Lekki Free Port Terminal (LFPT) have said they are here to improve maritime trade and connect Nigeria to global maritime trade, hence it defocuses attention to competition with any local port.
To this end, the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of the Terminal, Kehinde Olubi-Neye, while speaking at a press parley at the Terminal on Wednesday noted that this informed why the Port has the deepest draft not available in any port in Lagos and arguably in some of the West African countries.
His words: “I’m a commercial guy, I do not talk about Apapa -Tin Can. I only talk about Lekki Port. I’m not here to compete, we are here to connect global maritime trade to Nigeria and that’s why you have the deepest draft here. You do not have this draft in any other port in Lagos, arguably in some of the West African countries as well.
“So we’re here to offer service, we’re here to improve maritime trade and that’s what we will be here for, it’s not to compete with any port, it’s to render service to the Nigerian people. In other words we focus our focus.”
A major target of the Port, according to Olubi-Neye is to recover the transshipment cargo which Nigeria lost to neighbouring countries a few years back seemingly due to charges.
He expressed confidence in achieving this, saying that $100 million has been spent in purchase of cargo handling equipment that will help in recovering the transship cargo bound for the landlocked countries.
The CCO added that they were working with the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) for a competitive pricing and also assured stakeholders and investors of return in investment.
“We’re quite confident that we’ll get the transshipment back. We are in the process of doing it with the NPA, they regulate pricing.
“We had the opportunity of sitting with the Managing Director of NPA where he reiterated that the Lekki Port should get this cargo and ensure that the transshipment status that was taken away from the country returns.
“NPA regulates prices and they are interested in ensuring this cargo comes back and we are sure they will provide us with the necessary support,” he said.
Continuing, the CCO announced that they have had only four commercial calls as the journey is just starting and assured that the customers remain priority to them.
“We have only had four commercial calls till date, so we are on a journey, I can assure you that our customers are priority to us, they would always be the first for us, and at every point in time, we would regularly engage with them,” he said.
On assurance of return on investment to stakeholders, he said, “our tariffs have been published, they are available, they are very competitive prices, we know the investment we put in here and we definitely need to assure our stakeholders and investors on the return of investment, which includes the NPA as the shareholder, which includes the Lagos State Government as well. So we are very competitive with our pricing.”
According to Olubi-Neye, Lekki Deep Sea Port as the deepest in Nigeria offers economic scale to Nigeria, adding that it can berth two vessels at a time with the capacity to bring in the biggest vessels in maritime trade.
He explained that it basically doubles the capacity of the Nigerian ports with its massive investment in technology.
The CCO also announced that the terminal boasts of a truck park that can accommodate 150 trucks while the trucks come to the terminal with a booking that would improve the turnaround of trucks that ends in more revenue generation.
This, it achieves through an automated system that is linked to the automated gate with the vehicle booking system where truck drivers are required to book appointments in advance.
“This also supports the initiative of the Lagos State Government with regards to the comprehensive call-up system for the Lagos Free Zone, Lekki Port, Dangote Free Zone, Dangote Refinery and the Pinnacle Oil and Gas.
“We are in active discussions with the Lagos State Ministry of Transport and other stakeholders on the deployment of the call-up system for the Lekki area and we have confidence that the coming onboard of the call-up system for trucks will address any concerns that prospective port users would have over access to the Port,” he said.
Currently, he said the trucks turnaround time is 40 minutes, while the port is estimating five to ten days for cargoes to exit the port, right from discharge from the ship to gate out.
“Everything is automated. We’re delivering best in class cargo business; a secure web portal for seamless transactions from the comfort of your home. We have a very neat customer-centric centre,” he said.
He appreciated the road rehabilitation being provided by the Lagos State Government in the free zone which he said has improved significantly but disclosed that beyond the road situation, the Lekki Port is looking at barge routes which also provides opportunity for the Port to play a role in the uptake of cargo in ports in the eastern operational flank on the NPA.
For this purpose the port is currently having discussions on moving containers discharged at Lekki Port by barge to the Eastern Ports of Calabar, Warri, and Onitsha River Port, among others to help increase the economy of those ports.
“Lekki Port can serve as transshipment for cargoes going to these ports, so there’s plan from Barge Operators of Nigeria to support this project. So there’s barge operations, executing it and it is working.
“We have been able to execute more than five barge moves of over 900 twenty-foot equivalent units of containers (TEUs) from Lekki Port to the Ikorodu area of Lagos,” the CCO informed.
Also speaking at the media parley, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko, commended the promoters of the seaport and said the Authority is proud of the project.
Represented by the Technical Assistant, Ikechukwu Onyemekara, the Managing Director described the seaport as “Nigerian project and we are all proud of it.
“We want to continue to support every necessary approval. It’s our project. We are committed to it.”
Meanwhile, contrary to rumours that some agencies of government were not identifying with the Port, they were all seen on ground carrying out their duties during the press tour of the terminal.
These include the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigeria Export Processing Authority (NEPZA) and they all pledged their support for the new seaport.
The Zonal Administrator of NEPZA, Garba Hayatu, speaking at the parley assured that all the necessary incentives that the Port will need would be made available.
“We ensured that all the equipment used at the terminal came in duty free, the free zone is for investors to invest, not just depending on oil for everything,” he urged.
Representatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) and NPF on their part assured of cooperation and support in terms of security.
The Lekki Deep Sea Port is a privately owned Deep Sea Port, with the NPA and Lagos State Government as part of the shareholders.