The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has commenced installation of cylindrical spuds on the N50billion Modular Floating Dock, as it gets ready for operations.
NIMASA, moved the Floating Dock to a jetty at the Standard Flour Mills in Apapa today (Tuesday) in preparation of its movement to the scheduled operational base at the Continental Shipyard, Apapa.
The heavy 50-ton cylindrical spuds, which are for anchoring the dock, are being prepared for installation.
“We are moving slowly but steadily to our destination. Today, we are lifting out the cylindrical studs to be prepared for piling at the Continental Shipyard where the Floating Dock is scheduled to commence operations. These spuds have to be firmly installed before we can tow the Floating Dock there. We assure stakeholders that very soon, Nigeria will save foreign earnings with the commencement of operations of our Dock,” the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh stated.
Recall that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) leased designated areas at the Continental Shipyard for the operations of the Modular Floating Dock last year.
The areas include; the Dolphin Jetty, waterfront of the jetty adjourning the slipway, an administrative block, a construction, welding and mechanical workshop and a civil maintenance workshop, among others.
The project will be run on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
Speaking with News Diet during an exclusive chat, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Jamoh, described the deployment of the ship-repair asset as one of the agency’s topmost goals for the first quarter of 2024.
“The commencement of the operations of NIMASA modular floating dock is one of the goals we hope to achieve before the end of first quarter 2024,” Jamoh told our correspondent.
