LCM Assures Safe Navigation Inward And Outward Lagos Ports

The Lagos Channel Management (LCM) has assured that Lagos waters are now safe for navigation, even as it said that the ports in Lagos have now been dredged to between 13 metres and 13.5 metre depth from their former depth of nine metres when the company took over in 2005.

Speaking at a forum organized by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in Lagos yesterday, LCM’s head of human resources, Prince Falade Oyekan, who represented the managing director; Mr. Danny Fuchs explained that the company now has 14 dredgers and vessels used to remove wrecks including special dredgers that can repair quay walls.

According to him, the company equally has a Marine Operations Centre (MOC) which it uses to monitor vessel activities around Lagos waters for incidences of pollution.
Oyekan also added that the company has removed 29 shipwrecks out of 31 shipwrecks identified along the channel on which it is operating.
Oyekan said, “Until November 2012, we have removed 27 shipwrecks and currently working on two other wrecks that we identified as those that pose risk to the channel. The statutory duty to remove wrecks is with the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) but base on agreement between NPA and the agency, we are meant to remove wrecks on our contracted channels as recommended by the NPA.”
According to him, the Fairway Buoy covers the region beginning from entry point from the Atlantic into the nation’s ports in Lagos down to Apapa Port, Tin Can Port and Badagry.
“When we took over in 2005 the highest depth along the buoy is between seven and nine metres but now what we have is a minimum of 13.5 metres. In some areas, the channel is deeper than that, except around the Quay Wall, which is very a sensitive area to dredge. We are very careful when dredging around the Key Wall because if you exceed the limit, the wall can collapse. This makes it less than 13 metres, for instance around APMT Terminal.

"For now, with the massive job that has been carried out when it comes to the wrecks, I think our waterways are now very safe for us to navigate" he assured.

It would be recalled that Shipping Position Daily had recently reported exclusively that a tanker vessel; MT Vanin had sank on the Lagos waters after being abandoned for a year.

But in a quick reaction to this, Oyekan said that the vessel is outside the jurisdiction of the company as it is not directly on the Lagos channel.
Speaking on the challenges faced by the company, he said that the frequent call of vessels at the ports makes it difficult to have the opportunity to repair the quay walls.
He added that: "It is our job to continue to maintain, but when you have siltation coming in almost every year it becomes a threat, try as much as possible to find lasting solutions to it but it has proved difficult".
"In some areas, the channel is deeper than that, except around the Quay Wall, which is very a sensitive area to dredge. We are very careful when dredging around the Quay Wall because if you exceed the limit, the wall can collapse. This makes it less than 13 metres, for instance around APMT Terminal", he added.
"Around the Tin Can Port, we have berths that are nine and 14 metres. From the construction we know the depth and its limitations so we dredge to 13 or 13.5,” Oyekan explained.
On controversies with award of contracts to the company by its parent company; NPA, the LCM human resource head said contracts were advertised with the company not being exceptional to the contracts.
“We have an independent body for the contracts. We bid like others, but the advantage we have is that we have been in the system and so, people can see what we are doing. We bided for a lot of contracts which we didn’t win. Even the Calabar dredging contract that is having issues now, we won at initial stage but NPA was criticized for awarding the contract to a company in which it had interest and contract was given to another company”. “Today, we all know what happened next,” he said.