Maersk Line Hails Strides in Nigerian Ports

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John Iwori

Managing Director of Maersk Nigeria Limited (MNL) and Head of the Central West Africa Cluster, Mr. Jan Thorhauge, has hailed the strides made by the Nigerian ports since the conclusion of the concession programme initiated during the Obasanjo administration.

The exercise, which kicked off in 2006, was supervised by the Bureau for Public Enterprises, and it divested the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) from the day-to-day running of the nation’s seaports.

MNL remains an important subsidiary of the Danish port operations logistic giant, A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, which has about 10,000 employees in sub-Saharan Africa and 121,000 worldwide. Out of this number of employees, about 1,450 are in Nigeria.

The Managing Director, whose parent firm is also engaged in oil and gas production, towage and emergency services at sea, logistics, container terminals, oil drilling, and tankers is presently in more than 140 countries around the world, said the strides made by Nigerian ports resulted in the confidence it has in investing $2.1 billion in 22 new ships specially designed to visit West Africa’s shallow-water ports.

It also transported 183 million tonnes of cargo in 2011 and is the largest container carrier in the world.
Thorhauge was quoted in a statement made available to THISDAY by MNL Media Adviser, Mr. Bolaji Akinola, as saying that most of the terminals in the country have made major investments in 2012 in terms of infrastructure, container handling equipment and terminal management software.

According to him, these investments, along with the dampened market, have resulted in Lagos ports – for the first time in many years – being congestion free for an unprecedented 9 months in a row.

His words: “APMT Apapa has in early 2013 initiated the final phase of their expansion plans, and both TICT and Ports and Cargo Handling Services are today operating almost entirely with rubber tired gantry (RTG) cranes which has dramatically increased the yard capacity. The average dwell time days (the time spent between a container being discharged and leaving the terminal) has also gone down by around 40 per cent.

“Irrespective of these improvements, it is expected that the terminal capacity in Lagos ports will be fully utilised within the coming years, and it is essential that steps are taken to find new terminal capacity in order to keep up with Nigeria’s economic growth. Poor road infrastructure outside the terminals and lacking rail services also remain a concern.

“From a Maersk Line perspective, we continue to offer a combination of direct services from the Far East, as well our relay products from the Western Mediterranean and today Maersk Line has 7 weekly calls in the largest Nigerian ports. The 4,500 TEU (twenty foot equivalent) WAFMAX vessels we deployed in 2011/2012 remain the by far largest container vessels calling Nigeria. The WAFMAX vessels initially only called the port of Apapa, and their deployment will in 2013 be expanded to include other ports in Nigeria”.

The firm, which accounts for 14 per cent of all global container trade by sea, emerged from a pricing war last year after making a $553 million loss in 2011. It remains the largest division within the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, representing 44 per cent of total group revenues of $59 billion last year, just as it posted a profit of $461 million in the face of all-time high bunker prices with the second half performance improving thanks to significant cost reductions and rate increases.
It said focuses heavily on safety and training of what it called its “highly-skilled staff” as well as sustainability.