By Deborah James
Lekki port stands as Nigeria’s deepest seaport capable of berthing the world’s largest ships. It also basks in the euphoria of being the newest and most technologically advanced port in nation.
Some weeks ago, Maersk Edirne, the biggest vessel to berth in a Nigerian ports landed at the Lekki seaport, but that record has been broken by CMA CGM’s Scandola, another large vessel that arrived the port.
CMA CGM Scandola, length overall (LOA) is 366 meters and her width is 51.11 meters. CMA CGM Scandola is the first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powered vessel to berth in Nigeria, not only in Nigeria but the entire West Africa.
LNG powered vessel is a ship that uses Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as its primary fuel source. LNG is a clean-burning fuel that is stored onboard the vessel in liquid form, and then converted back into gas for use in the ship’s engines.
Maersk Edirne’, measured 367M in length over all and has a breadth of 48.2 and carried a Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 142,131metric tonnes and a Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) of 147,340 metric tonnes, constituting 3,376 total cargoes onboard.
While there are lots of optimisms and excitements around the emergence of the Lekki port, in this report we explore the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good
As a modern port, what truly sets Lekki port apart is the technological prowess. This port is equipped with ship-to-ship cranes and possesses five of these remarkable container gadget cranes, belonging to the super-posed Panamax crew. These STS cranes are ferocious, capable of lifting 65 tons in twin-lift mode, 50 tons in single-lift mode, or a staggering 85 tons.
With a 61-meter outreach from the Lekki Deep Seaport: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, they can handle containers from 25 rows deep, even accommodating the world’s largest container ship, like the Everal Unlocked, with its 61.5-meter width.
Lekki Port is more economical. It has more comprehensive services and supports the ecosystem because it is within a Free Zone.
Fast track cargo evacuation for Free Zone customers.
Largest seaport in Nigeria with a depth of 16.5 metres capable of receiving 18,000 TEUs vessels making it suitable for transshipment.
The estimated time for clearing of import from vessel arrival is between 5 to 7 days, while the estimated time for the export processing is within 7 days from the gate.
Spacious container terminal with over 15,000 ground slots.
Ease of evacuation of containers by use of modern barges facilitating quick delivery to the final destination of the cargo.
Fully automated modern port with 2 FS 6000 scanners to optimize inspection of cargo.
Pre-gate Truck Park facilities and Automated Gates operated by optical character recognition portal for inbound and outbound truck movements for efficient traffic management.
Modern marine services provided by the Nigerian Ports Authority. • Effective cargo clearance powered by Truck VBS.
Presence of all required regulatory agencies including Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, etc. for efficient arrival and discharge of cargo.
The port is about creating 170,000 new jobs, reaching out to the host communities, and lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
The Bad
Despite all alluring features at Lekki port, there are huge indications that human interference posed by government agencies at other ports will be replicated at Lekki.
Challenges witnessed in cargo examination, ship inspection and arbitrary interception of already examined and released cargoes are bound to reoccur at Lekki as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) units like Federal Operations Unit (FOU) and other agencies are primed to intercept cargoes along the port corridors.
In a recent meeting between Lekki port stakeholders and freight forwarders in Apapa, the Lekki port Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Muhammad Babandede, couldn’t expressly clarify the notion of placing charges on transshipment cargoes.
Babandede, however, said it is not the norm to have charges on transshipment cargoes.
Relating to the traffic management system, Babandede, stated that solutions have been contributed and they have been able to get the Lagos state government and the NPA to regulate the Eleko junction that connects the port and seaport areas. This implies that any truck coming in must have a reason to come into that area.
His words, “In creating applications in the terminal, the government organisations allow your truck in, based on the appointment created. You could have the best road, the best system but if you don’t enforce the public management of the road you have nothing.”
It will be really bad to have Lekki port subjected to the human-related challenges and checkpoints (extortion points) that have characterized other seaports in the country leading shippers to prefer patronizing seaports in neighbouring countries.
The Ugly
The most ugly scenario for Lekki port is its commencement without a railway connection and the already publicized peculiar challenges for barge operations.
Dangote Refinery is expected to put over 2000 trucks on the roads daily while Lekki port operations will also add to the problem with more trucks evacuating cargoes.
Absence of railway means that, like other ports across the nation, Lekki port will depend largely on the roads for the evacuation of cargoes while the option of barging can only to be carried out by a different specification of barges than popular available ones in-country.
According to shipping experts, the high tides and deep sea currents at Lekki don’t support the patronage of smaller barges usually engaged at Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, but barge operators will need access to capital to acquire the requisite kind of barges for port business at Lekki.
There are fears that with more cargo traffic at Lekki port an ugly logistics scenario reminiscent of the most chaotic years of Apapa port access quagmire awaits at Lekki.
News Diet has observed that the Lekki roads are already characterized traffic gridlock as a result of the huge population who utilize the roads on daily basis.
It is unfortunate that despite wide appeals from veteran port operators, including regulators like – former Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman and former Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Bello; for the Lekki port project to be planned with a railway system, the port facility has commenced with railway connection only an afterthought.
Conclusion
Railway will play a huge role in determining the success of Lekki port but the good news is that rail has been unbundled. It is no longer exclusively federal government prerogative. With this development, a veteran Maritime lawyer, Barr. Emmanuel Nwagbara explained that the state government can develop rail tracks and there is also Public-Private partnership (PPP) alternative. He expressed optimism that this portends hope for Lekki railway.
Human interference and unprofessional activities of Customs and other government agencies at ports will have to be reduced for Lekki port to thrive.
Lekki port is an economic powerhouse that will strengthen Nigeria’s economy in ways unimaginable. Over the course of the concession, it was projected to generate a staggering 361 billion U.S. dollars; but all stakeholders have got to put in the work to make the port realize its goal to be a transhipment hub in West Africa.
