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Category: Maritime

  • Lekki Port: Amaechi Expresses Satisfaction At Increased Pace Of Work, Urges Promoters To Double Efforts

    Lekki Port: Amaechi Expresses Satisfaction At Increased Pace Of Work, Urges Promoters To Double Efforts

     

    Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has expressed his satisfaction with the increased pace of work on the construction of the Lekki Deep Sea Port.

     

    Amaechi made this comment in Lagos on Saturday, January 22, 2022, during his inspection of the port site in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, in the company of top government functionaries from the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Heads of relevant agencies, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC).

     

    Speaking shortly after his tour of the port site, the Minister commended the promoters on the pace of work.

     

    He urged them to double their effort on the construction to complete the Port and start operations ahead of schedule.

     

    “I am happy; from the last time we came here, there has been huge progress; what this shows is that when you set your mind on something, you can achieve it. The agreement was that we would commission by the last quarter of 2022, but if we double our effort on this project, we could commission by July or August, and that would be great”, he said.

     

    Speaking during the tour, the Chief Technical Officer, Lekki Port, Mr Steven Heukelom, explained that construction work on the project is on course and as scheduled. He noted that dredging and reclamation works had reached 89.93% completion, Quay Wall 85.65% completion, Breakwater 79.66% completion, the landside infrastructure development 67.82% completion, thus bringing total works carried out on the project to approximately 80% completion stage.

     

    Heukelom also informed the Honourable Minister that work has commenced on the marine services jetty, which the NPA will use to carry out their marine services obligation.

     

    He commended the Acting Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko, for the support and partnership in preparing the Port to start operations.

    Lekki Port: Amaechi Expresses Satisfaction At Increased Pace Of Work, Urges Promoters To Double Efforts
    L-R: Chief Technical Officer, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (Lekki Port), Mr Steven Heukelom; the Chief Operating Officer, Lekki Port, Mr Laurence Smith; Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko and the Director Maritime Services, DMS, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Awwal Suleiman, during the Minister’s inspection of the Port site in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos on Saturday, January 22, 2022

    Mr Muhammed Bello-Koko reaffirmed the agency’s readiness to provide marine services for the Ports operations. To this end, he disclosed that NPA is procuring tug boats and other necessary infrastructure for the smooth take-off of the Port.

     

    In his remarks, the Chief Operating Officer of Lekki Port, Laurence Smith, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to delivering the project by the fourth quarter of 2022.

     

     He noted that the EPC Contractor, China Habour Engineering LFTZ Enterprise, is working day and night to make this commitment a reality.

     

    Smith expressed confidence that the Port, upon completion, would be a world-class port and would become a regional distribution and transhipment hub for the African region.

     

    Lekki Port is being developed by Tolaram and China Harbour Engineering Company. The Lagos State Government and NPA are also shareholders in the project company.

     

    The Port is scheduled to start port operations by the end of 2022.

  • Wharf Landing Fees Not Scrapped, LASG Insists

    Wharf Landing Fees Not Scrapped, LASG Insists

     

    The Lagos State Government has strongly debunked speculation making the rounds that it has scrapped the collection of wharf landing fees on imported vehicles at the ports operating in the state.

     

    It said all categories of vehicles including containerized cargoes are still required to continue paying the wharf landing fee.

     

    A statement by the Public Affairs Officer of the Lagos State Wharf Landing Authority (LSWLA), Mr Michael Oputeh, said the news making the round that the state government has scrapped the wharf landing fees is false.

     

    He urged all ports operators particularly freight forwarders, and clearing agents not to be misled by what was clearly a false report, that was a figment of the imaginations of those who concocted it.

     

    According to the statement: “The attention of the Lagos State Wharf Landing Collection Authority has been drawn to misleading news that has gone viral on social media that the state government had scrapped the wharf landing fee. This is not true and must be a figment of imagination of its authors.”

     

    Oputeh urged all operators to disregard the misleading information which claimed the fees was scrapped following series of complaints from importers and clearing agents about multiple taxation on imported vehicles.

     

    He said the letter purported by the government was merely mandating the streamlining of fees between the LSWLA and the Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (MVAA) on imported cars.

     

    “This to the best of our knowledge does not represent a scrapping of the landing fees as being erroneously speculated, We urge all operators not to run afoul of the law of the state, but do well to pay appropriate fees as there was no truth in the unfounded reports that hinted otherwise.”

     

    He urged anyone who is still in doubt to get across to officials of the wharf landing agency for the true position of things and have all their grievances or complaints sorted out.

     

    The news report falsely claiming the landing fees have been scrapped quoted a letter purportedly signed by one Ogunlenu Muslim A. on behalf of the Lagos State Government, which was said to have been conveyed to the ANLCA National Secretariat that both agencies are now collaborating for seamless operation.

     

    “I am directed to inform you that Lagos State Wharf Landing Fees Collecting Authority and Motor Vehicle Administration Agency have decided to collaborate to enable us have a seamless operation in the joint sales of Wharf Landing tickets and Temporary Vehicle Tag (TVT) at various points prescribed by Government”

     

    “This Agreement was reached for government to have a singular point of payment for the fees,” the letter reads in part.

     

  • Buhari Suspends Hadiza Bala Usman as NPA MD

    Buhari Suspends Hadiza Bala Usman as NPA MD

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman as the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

     

    In a statement signed by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, on Thursday, the suspension followed a recommendation by Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, to set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate the management of the NPA.

     

    Buhari also approved the appointment of Mohammed Koko to take over while “the investigation is carried out”.

     

    The panel is to be headed by the director of maritime services in the ministry while the deputy director of legal in the same ministry will serve as secretary.

     

    Other members of the panel will be appointed by the minister.

     

    Bala Usman was first appointed as the NPA MD in July 2016.

     

    In January, President Muhammadu Buhari reappointed her as NPA MD, for an additional five-year tenure.

     

    She previously served as the chief of staff to Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, from 2015 to 2016.

     

    In 2014, she co-founded the Bring Back Our Girls campaign to advocate the rescue of abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

     

    Bala Usman is also a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

     

    NPA recently launched Etó, an electronic truck call-up system, aimed at tackling the perennial logjam caused by articulated trucks within the Apapa ports corridor.

  • NIWA To Move 1,000 Containers From Lagos To Onitsha Port In 4 Days

    NIWA To Move 1,000 Containers From Lagos To Onitsha Port In 4 Days

     

    The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) says it will begin the movement of containers from Lagos ports to Onitsha River Port.

     

    The agency, in a statement released on Thursday by Jibril Darda’u, its general manager of corporate affairs, said the move is an attempt to decongest Lagos ports and make Onitsha River Port functional.

     

    Darda’u quoted George Muoghalu, managing director of NIWA, as saying the agency is targeting about 1,000 containers to be hauled per trip from Lagos ports to Onitsha River Port within the maximum duration of 4 days.

     

    Moghalu added that NIWA is engaging the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and other stakeholders to facilitate the commencement of the cargo haulage.

     

    NIWA said it would engage the services of Akewa Colmar Terminal Limited (ACTL), to effectively move containers using barges via Burutu Port in Delta state.

     

    “The idea of hauling containers via Burutu Ports to Onitsha River Port is to deliberately avoid the two small bridges of Gbarekolo and Bumandi,” the statement added.

     

    “Because the two bridges are too tiny and shallow for sea moving badges or vessels to ply through, that is why the company (ACTL) is considering the route from Lagos ports to Burutu Port then to Onitsha River Port as final destination.”

     

    On his part, Kenneth Donye, chairman of ACTL, expressed the readiness of his company to partner with NIWA in carrying out this “noble and historic transshipment”.

     

    To solve the Apapa gridlock problem, the NPA recently commenced an electronic call-up system to control entry and exit of trucks at Lagos ports.