Port Harcourt Port Rejoins League Of Container Ports ….Receives first container ship in 6 years

About six years after containerised vessels abandoned Port Harcourt, Rivers state, the oldest eastern port last week rejoined the elite league of container ports when MV Corisco  berthed at Terminal ‘A’ in the port.
It was a momentous occasion as the port manager; Mr Dele Alabi led some members of the management to officially receive the laden ship.
The arrival of MV Cosco was a dream fulfilled for the port manager who had told Shipping Position Weekly recently that the port was frantically working towards receiving containerised vessels.
He had confirmed to our correspondent that the two concessionaires are doing their best to attract patronage to the port, but added that ultimately, the port hopes to join the league of container handling ports soon.
“We are happy that the terminal operators are gearing up for that and relevant strategies are being put in place to achieve this. One of the terminal operators have just brought in brand new equipment; Kalmar 45 tonnes, 40 tonnes; in fact, as I speak with you, the equipment are being assembled. There are about 10 of them and they are all brand new”, he disclosed.
“We are just waiting for that traffic to come and once the traffic comes, things will never be the same again, because once you start handling containers, you put in less energy and you discharge more containers, in terms of productivity and throughput, you achieve more .We are happy about it , waiting and ready for it”, he had disclosed optimistically. That optimism became a reality when the ship docked to the delight of the managing director of Ports and Terminal Operators (PTOL) Mrs. Lizzy Ovbude, and other management staff of the company.
Mrs. Ovbude whose berth scored the feat expressed joy, even as he assured that more containers vessels would soon follow.
The company had recently acquired new cargo handling equipment and refurbished the terminals in preparation for boom in cargo throughput and vessel calls.
Container laden ships had avoided Port Harcourt port due to lack of adequate cargo handling gears, thereby confining the port to bulk cargo operations alone. Ships laden with salt, rice, cement, frozen fish and bulk wheat became the only regular callers at this port.