- As Chamber of Shipping hosts NNPC Shipping MD’s at a meeting with stakeholders
Nigerian ship owners are set to explore pooling in a bid to spread the financial burden of acquiring ships in a special arrangement to be spearheaded by the Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Shipping, Mr. Panos Gliatis.
This was the highlight of the meeting hosted by the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS) in Lagos on Monday as ship owners engaged the new Managing Director of NNPC Shipping, Panos Gliatis.
Gliatis, who was recently appointed Managing Director of NNPC Shipping, suggested the pooling system as a viable approach for Nigerian ship-owners to surmount fiscal challenges in ship acquisition.
His words: “The non-availability of contracts for ship-owners has been a recurring challenge but we are going to address this. In the next few years, we can hope to see more Nigerian ships and the pooling system is an idea that is in the works. I think it should be discussed and explored because it is a system that assures impartiality, transparency and equal sharing of earnings.”
“I hope that we can build on this collaboration as a private company to find solutions with Nigerian ship-owners who are private businessmen as we look forward to achieving more together. This is the hope for everyone and it will be good for the entire shipping industry.”
Meanwhile, the NNPC boss stressed the need for Nigeria to develop human capital in shipping, positing that with over 230 million people and 65 percent youth, the nation should prioritize seafarers development.
“As an ex-captain chief officer and I know that in order to forge ahead in this industry, we need to develop captains and chief engineers. Without them, we’re not going anywhere. So, we will try from NNPC Shipping to push as much as we can. But this is something that we all have to take seriously. Without seafarers, without captains and civil engineers, you will never have shipping,” he said.
Earlier, the President of NCS, Mr. Aminu Umar described the meeting as an opportunity to build collaborations and networks instead of the non-productive approach of confrontation.
“The Managing Director of NNPC Shipping didn’t just come here, but he came with his top management team. He wants to see how we can work together to develop the industry. So, I am very excited and I believe this interactive session has been worthwhile. We should engage more because there are lots of opportunities which we are all losing out on.”
“If we are able to engage and we bring all our strengths together, there is high possibility that we will change the way the industry stands today,” the NCS President said.
On his part, the President of Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA), Mr. Sola Adewunmi lamented Nigerian shipowners have been unable to attract investors on account of the unavailability of jobs in the sector.
He equally lamented that no Nigerian ship-owner has participated in the supply of crude oil to Dangote refinery, stressing that indigenous operators are losing out and the government also loses potential earnings via taxes.
“How do you borrow money from the bank when you are not securing a job that can actually pay for that loan? We have looked at it. One of the ways we can improve shipping is for NNPC to give us the platform to collaborate with international partners.”
“If indigenous shipowners do not have the capacity right away, there should be an opportunity for us to collaborate with foreign ship owners to bring this in the process. Our people are undergoing training. I cited the example of what the NNPC did in the industry in the past with Capt. Ishola, Senator Ladoja among others. They gave them the opportunity to work with foreigners and a timeline of about five years. Within the 5-year period, they partnered with foreign firms and were later able to develop their shipping companies that were fully Nigerian. This is the type of collaboration we want from NNPC Shipping,” Adewunmi said.
Meanwhile, a former Governing Board member of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Mina Oforiokuma, observed that there is a clause in the Nigerian Content Policy yet to be explored in shipping for Nigerian labour and shipping services in the affreightment of the nation’s petroleum carbon.
“At NCDMB, we did a lot of work and finally were able to get, not just NNPC, but the Nigerian Content Board to insert the clause into the Nigerian Content Act as it had to do with the Direct Sale of crude oil and Direct Purchase of petroleum product (DSDP) contracts, direct import of petroleum products and crude oil affreightment and also refined product to the extent that Nigerian shipping services and labour should be considered in marine vessel. I just hope that this will be applied to your plans and your strategy in the future,” Mina explained to the NNPC boss.
“By virtue of tonnage, Greece today is the largest shipowning country. They didn’t get to that position by just buying ships. They got into that position by operating marine assets. I’m very happy also that the NNPC boss did mention that Nigeria cannot become a shipowning nation without developing manning from cadets to the highest level of captains and chief engineers,” he added.
At the event, the President of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, Mr. Sonny Eja, opined that it was hightime Nigerian shipowners shelve their differences by coming together to have one body that will explore the pooling strategy.
Eja also asserted that a united body of shipowners will also be more successful in engaging government agencies with a view to addressing the myraid of challenges affecting shipping.
On her part, the Vice President of NCS, Ify Akerele, advised shipowners to collaborate as private entities and individuals in order to avoid the political conflicts that could arise from partnerships as associations.
Akerele also assured that the Chamber will continue to engage all categories of stakeholders to address problems affecting shipowners in the country.
