The Secretary General of African Ship Owners Association, Ms Funmi Folorunsho has said against general believe that access to finance is the greatest problem of ship owners in Nigeria, trade is actually the major problem of ship owners in the country.
Folorunsho in a chat with our correspondent recently, said trade is the major challenge of ship owners, and until the country begins to produce, it might be difficult to remove the barrier faced by ship owners in the country, even as she opined that the only thing that develops fleet vessels in any country is trade.
She argued that, “one of the challenges of ship owners is not access to finance, the only thing that develops shipping fleet vessel is trade, if you have money and you buy a ship, you will not park it in the garage you need to use it in the carriage of goods, but if we are able to produce now, some contracts will come, our ship yards will be developed and some people will even come and tell you they want to finance your vessel”
Folorunsho informed that many of the ship owners in the country do not get their finance from the country, but outside the country as long as they meet the criteria for the loans.
“When you look at the fleets in Nigeria, do you know that many of them don’t get finance from within Nigeria, but outside Nigeria and are doing good business because they have met the international standard for getting finance”
“Can I say to you, from African Ship owners’ perspectives, there is ship finance for ship owners but you got to meet up with the parameters”
“If you go asking bank for a loan now, they will ask you if you are a salary earner to know the kind of loan facility to give you. So if you don’t meet the parameters for financing internal or external nobody is going to give you loan”, she said.
Also reacting to the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the Secretary General of the African Ship Owners urged the country to begin the campaign of maritime transportation in Africa, otherwise she warns that foreigners will still come and reap of the AfCFTA.
“Maritime transportation is key and the cheapest means of transportation, 90% of goods are being carried by maritime transportation and that is why at African Ship Owners, we are encouraging and supporting the development of fleets in African countries,
“And as a matter of urgency, Nigeria must pioneer or lead in the campaign for maritime transportation in Africa or else, we would have developed trade that would still be carried by foreigners who will reap the benefits of the agreement. So this trade being generated by Africans must be carried by African vessels”, she said.
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