Captain Waredi Enuisuoh
I don’t really know the details of the PPP. You would recall news making the rounds that the cost of storage for the dock is $30,000/day. However, for the dock to be commercially viable, it has to be moved away to an environment where the cost of storage is zero. To dry dock and repair a Panamax Bulk Carrier for 20 days in China, which is one of the cheapest places to dry dock a ship, is averagely $600,000. That is $30,000/day. Though the NIMASA Floating Dock cannot handle a Panamax size vessel, but it can handle a vessel of about 155m in length, if I can remember, which will be relatively cheaper. In my assessment, within Lagos and at $30,000/day, such PPP will be tested to the limit.
Otunba Kunle Folarin (Chairman, Port Consultative Council)
NIMASA should not have been the agency to procure a floating dock. A floating dock is an infrastructure used in the shipping industry and port authorities which is to aid the repair and maintenance of ships. This means it is the shipping companies and the port authorities that are to use this equipment. However, since the equipment has been procured and should be put into use, one would have expected that the Maritime agency would have transferred it as an asset to the Nigeria Port Authority or even the Navy. They are best to use it for maintenance and for repairs.
NIMASA probably has some floating boats that we call surveillance ships against piracy and their other activities. The Port Authority has more tug boats, pilot boats and mooring boats for maintenance than NIMASA will ever have. There could be an arrangement whereby the equipment could be transferred as an asset to the Port Authority and NIMASA can have access to this equipment for their operations.
Engr. Matthew Alalade (Former President, Merchant Navy)
I don’t know if NIMASA consulted the stakeholders before acquiring this floating dock. I don’t know their functions regarding dry docking. This should be the responsibility of the Nigerian Ports Authority. The dry dock NPA has before was used efficiently which provided employment opportunities for people. I think NIMASA should concession the Floating dock to NPA to utilize it on their behalf. They are both sister agencies under the Ministry of Transportation. NIMASA should get its hands off the Floating dock and allow NPA to operate it, so that there will be employment opportunities for people to work and gain experience.
Captain Adetayo Saliu (Chairman, Merchant Navy, Shipping Zonal Council)
NIMASA should have had a target for getting the floating dock. What do they want to achieve with it? Is it to get vessels or which tonnage and of what benefit will it be? You cannot just get a floating dock without having a reason or target for it and decide to be productive. The floating dock is for us to generate revenue.
I think it will be a good one if they allow professionals to handle it. But the way it is, they want to privatize it and give it to people to run. For that, I don’t think it is a profitable venture.
Captain Deji Abegunde
Ordinarily, NIMASA’s job is to regulate the maritime sector, certification, and safety. But they abandoned their own work and delve into another work entirely by procuring the floating dock. Even the empowerment that they are supposed to do from Cabotage-accrued money, the money is lying down with them to empower the Nigerian Ship-owners to make a wave in the industry. But they are not attending to that and now they went to acquire the floating dock. Are they still going to be the ones that will certify the job of the vessels that are being dry-docked? You can now see a conflict of interest.
NIMASA is not actually to make money but to regulate. However, they are not doing it. They want to be the ones that will do the technical job and at the same time certify the job they did and issue certificates. It is uncalled for. I have criticized it from day one. If they actually purchased the dock ignorantly, then they should organize people and privatize the dock. Perhaps NIMASA is looking for a way to make money and they inflate the price of the floating dock to make money, that is why it has been lying there doing nothing. NIMASA is going out of its official assignment.
Captain Thomas Kemewerigha
The government is not a good businessman. In the first place, there should be no room for NIMASA to have gone for that floating dock for commercial purposes. Initially, they said it was to be attached to the School in Okerekoko, that was their intention. If the school was managing it and using its students to generate money to run the school, it would have been better. You will be surprised that the dry dock that is supposed to generate money will still have a budget on it every year. I don’t know the position of NIMASA on this.
If a businessman has brought in that dry dock for commercial purposes, are you telling me that they will abandon it for all these years? NIMASA should go with whatever they want to use the floating dock for, but they should know that it was procured with the ship-owners money and the ship owners are suffering.
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