Oluyinka Onigbinde
Promoters of the Lekki Deep Seaport in Lagos have assured that pilot operations will begin at the port by 4th quarter 2022.
This is even as they reinstated that the the deep seaport will be ready by September of this year by which time the project would have been fully completed.
Speaking during a media tour of the site, one of the construction engineers who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity confirmed that pilot operations will commence by December.
He added that the deep seaport with a draft of 16.5meters depth has the capacity to berth the largest vessel in the world, even as he stated that there are plans to still take the draft to 19.5 meters as times goes on.
He said installations of some of equipment are ongoing and that plans are already on the way to acquire the Ship-To-Shore (STS) crane, which will be the first ever to be used in Nigeria.
He explained that what is being used in Apapa port is the manual crane, but said the Lekki Deep Seaport will be fully automated considering the vessel which will be accommodated at the port
He said 15 Rubbers Tyres Gantries (RTGs) are expected to commence operation when the deep seaport begins operation.
Read Also: Shippers Council Tasks Barge Operators On Standard, Quality Equipment
He said: “We have our foundation already for the STS, which will be the first-ever in Nigeria, the STS has the capacity to lift containers directly from the sea to the land side, where they will do the inspection
“And for the STS crane we are going to have five, but we are starting with three; all these things are programmed and like I said it is fully automated”.
Speaking on means of evacuation, the engineer informed our correspondent that there are three means of evacuation in plans which include the road, rail and barges.
“Once the government comes with the rail, we will connect and the other one will be with the badges because we have a Lagoon not too far from here, those are the three evacuation strategies we are looking out for” he said.
Kindly like us on Facebook
