APMT Finally ‘Reopens’ Monrovia Port

The port of Monrovia in Liberia has officially been ‘reopened’ by port and terminal operator APM Terminals, with the arrival in port of the container ship CHARLOTTA.
APM holds a 25-year concession to operate the port following the Liberian government’s ratification of last October’s agreement.
In terms of the agreement the Danish company will invest US$ 120 million to improving the facilities and infrastructure including the port’s marine services.
This includes rebuilding the quay wall and developing the container and general cargo facilities at the port.
APM now operates ports and terminals in the following African ports: Abidjan (Ivory Coast); Cotonou (Benin); Tema (Ghana); Apapa (Lagos), and Onne (Port Harcourt – both Nigeria); Douala (Cameroon); Monrovia (Liberia); Pointe-Noire (under development) (DRC); and Luanda (Angola).
Last week’s taking-over comes after APM Terminals had earlier signed a 25-year concession agreement for the operation of the Port of Monrovia in Liberia, which includes port management and modernisation.
The agreement for the port's privatisation will result in the investment of US$120 million in the facility over the course of the contract term.
The Liberian government elected to privatise the port in response to the urgent need for port infrastructure improvement, as the current facility was developed prior to containerised cargo transportation and requires investment in equipment and technology to bring the facility up to current industry standards.
Most of APM Terminals' investment during the initial years will cover construction of the quay, the establishment of efficient yard handling procedures and the installation of the new equipment required to transform the port into a more competitive, world-class facility capable of handling modern, deep-draft vessels.
The annual throughput capacity at the opening and future phases will be 75,000 TEU and 750,000 tons of general cargo. This will be APM's first 100% owned terminal in Africa.

Kenya Shippers Council Warns Of Congestion Charges At Mombasa
The Kenya Shippers Council (KSC) has said that slow cargo handling at the port of Mombasa will lead to congestion surcharges being levied by the shipping lines.
KSC says the poor flow of containers to the private container depots and cargo stations is to blame. According to a report in the Kenya Business Daily, the port delays can attract demurrage fees of between US$400-$600 per TEU a day.
The Shippers Council warns that shipping lines are “threatening to impose charges on goods imported through the Mombasa port to compensate them for time lost while waiting for cargo.” It said the charges would be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices for goods in order to recover costs incurred.
The council pointed out that last August, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) imposed a US$100 per TEU penalty as a ‘congestion surcharge” for moving its boxes through the port.

Safmarine Offers New 225 Service With Direct Calls In West Africa And Med
Safmarine has enhanced its '225' fully-containerised service between South Africa and West Africa by connecting West Africa via Dakar and Algeciras. The new weekly service, with high reefer capacity, will operate six vessels of 1100 TEU (nominal) with direct calls in Durban, Cape Town, Dakar (Senegal) and Algeciras (Spain).
According to Safmarine Intra-Africa Corridor Manager, James Lewer, “The focus of the new enhanced 225 service on West Africa and its connection in Dakar will enable fast and reliable connections via the MW1 service to Tin Can Island and Douala. The additional new call in Algeciras also offers customers connections with our entire portfolio of services to and from West Africa, the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent, North America, South America and in particular the Intra – European feeder services in the West and Eastern Mediterranean.”
The first southbound sailing commenced with the MV MACUBA in Algeciras on Tuesday 8 February 2011 and the MV Shanti which arrived in Durban on 5 February 2011.
The 225 service is a wholly Safmarine operated service, partnered by sister company Maersk Line, through a slot charter agreement.

Kenyan Ports Moves Towards Privatization
Kenya is steadily working on its planned ports privatization programme. Kenya Ports Authourity is currently pitched against the Dockworkers Union and coast politicians, over its plans to contract out stevedoring services to private parties and at the same time privatize four of its conventional berths.
According to the privatisation plan that was unveiled last year, the plan is to convert berth 11 to 14 into container berths in a project funded by both KPA and selected international players, under a private-public sector partnership arrangement.
The conversion of the berths earmarked for privatisation into container berths is expected to cost Sh5 billion. Unions are up in arms against the plans, fearing that privatisation will precipitate massive job losses
The government's long term plan is to convert Mombasa port into a landlord port where all the cargo handling is carried out by the private sector. Already, the Privatisation Commission of Kenya has put out a tender for transaction advisory services.
Four firms that tendered for the consultancy job were PriceWaterhouseCoopers, CPCS Transcorm Ltd, HPC Hamburg Port Consulting GmbH and Maritime and Transport Business Solutions.
As part of preparations, KPA organised tours for 24 representatives of those with an interest in the port to a number of successful world ports to see how they work.
The team included two MPs, KPA board members, senior port managers, union officials, members of privatisation commission and the chairman and ministry of labour officials.
But even before the team publishes its report, the secretary-general of the union, Mr Simon Sang, has claimed that the report from the tour will be biased because the organisers of the tour selected only successful privatised firms.
The executive director of the Privatisation Commission , Mr Solomon Kitungu, has denied that the visits were selective, pointing out that while one group visited successful privately-run ports, another visited ports run by the government.
One group visited Tema Port in Ghana, Dakar in Senegal and Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, while the other group visited Jawaharlal Nehru Port in India and Port Klang in Malaysia, he said.
"One common feature of these ports is the use of public private partnership such as the build-operate-transfer models, said Mr Kitungu.
But according to Mr Sang, the team did not visit Singapore, Durban and Cape Town as recomended by the World Bank, the three state-operated successful ports.
"We only visited privately managed ports," he added. According to Mr Sang, the port's privatisation will lead to the loss of 4,000 jobs from the present 7,330.
Downsizing seems to have started according to Mr Sang, since the port authority has hired consulting firm, Ernst & Young, to review the authority's organisation structure.
While KPA has already privatised some operations at the port such as grain handling, two berths are dedicated to A.P. Moller Maersk group which has bought expensive cargo handling equipment.
Maersk chief executive officer Nils Andersen, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, visited Mombasa port two years ago to explore the company's expansion at the Kilindini port.
Mr Andersen promised the port authority that Maersk had planned to invest Sh6.75 billion to upgrade it container handling works.
Berths 11-14 which were originally designed to handle general cargo will be converted into a fully fledged container terminal with ship-to-shore gantry cranes.
The four berths modernisation will increase container capacity by 1.2 million Twenty Foot Equivalent Units and in addition to the second Sh16 billion terminal being constructed by Japanese, the port will have a capacity to handle 2.8 million Teus.