•Operations will soon commence at our terminal —-SIFAX
Shippers under the auspices of Shippers Association Lagos State (SALS) last week raised alarm and called for urgent revival of $25million Warri ports that was concessioned to a consortium led by SIFAX group, who are also owners of Ports& Cargo Terminal Limited in Lagos.
Recalled that, in 2019 the terminal was concessioned to SIFAX Group-led consortium, Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which announced the result of the concession, said Ocean and Cargo offered $25,510,000.64 to emerge the preferred concessionaire. The concession is for a period of 25 years.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily in Apapa, the president of SALS, Rev Jonathan Nicol urged the government to do whatever that is within its reach to revive the terminal, not minding the cost implications.
He maintained that the government will regain whatever has been spent on developing the port within a space of five years.
"No matter what the cost implication will be, if you consider the economic situation of Warri town as a city, whatever it will cost the government to refurbish or reconstruct that port, they should do it. Because over time the government will get back the money. If you invest and make the investment durable within the first five years, you will recover the money"
Explaining further, Nicol said that the port is strategically located to service the who Eastern ports properly.
"So the government should not even look at the cost, they should look at the opportunities in the port, it is a central port where goods can move from Warri to Port-Harcourt, Asaba and Onitsha. So the whole of the Eastern ports between Warri to and Port-Harcourt, those ports should be very active. Whatever it will take the government to dredge or make it work, they should invest on it"
Nicol nevertheless said that the only vessels that can comfortably berth at the port is a flat bottom vessel, adding that the concessionaires are still developing the port.
"The port was concessioned to SIFAX and I understand they are building up the ports up till now. So the only vessel that can come to Warri for now will be bottom vessels and in those days, vessels used to come to Warri ports regularly and it was a beehive of activities and it opened up a lot of business for people. You have the transporters that will load the cargoes out"
According to him, "So they can as well reintroduce vessels that can come with containers and they will now begin to evacuate those containers through barges and flat bottom vessels to the terminals and then activities will commence. Most of the containers going to Onitsha come through Lagos and 40% goes to Port Harcourt.
The SALS boss said by reviving Warri ports, it will create more opportunities especially for people in that region.
"And then you would have created opportunities for people in that area to have something to do. Because you see survival is important for human race whether we like it or not, that is the essence of life and if you don't have anything to do it will bread criminality and poverty, an idle mind is the devil's workshop".
Meanwhile, speaking with our correspondent, the president of Edo/Delta Shippers Association, Dr. Austin Egbegbadia lamented that the Warri port has been under-utilised, even as he expressed hope that things are gradually picking up.
He also pleaded with the federal government to see that the port is not fallow, while lamenting that importers from that region still import through Lagos.
"The port has been concessioned years back and up till now; it is even now that we are beginning to see some ray of hope, in the sense that all these years not until recent time the port has been laying fallow, there are no activities there, nothing is happening there"
"It has always been our clamour, we have always been crying to the federal government to see that the port is not fallow while importers from Edo and Delta are still using Lagos ports, we want them to be brought into use"
Egbegbadia nevertheless explained that the port has been receiving wet cargoes.
"The port has been losing billions of Dollars because if this port is put in use, when one vessel calls, we know how much will be coming in. But the government will not do it because they have been receiving wet cargo which is petroleum products that comes through the pipeline getting to Warri jetty and they are loaded"
He explained that by reviving the port it will create job opportunities for people from that region.
"But what we are crying for is not just revenue to the federal government, but when a port is located in a place, it is supposed to impact on the economy of the place, it is not just enough for the government to be collecting revenue, it is also important for the citizens of the state to feel the impact of the port in their place. And how you can achieve that is when vessels with general cargoes come to the place, that is when you have the truck drivers"
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of SIFAX group, Mr. Muyiwa Akande said since taking over the terminal the company has been working to put everything in order, even as he disclosed that operations will soon start.
He also added that construction works are currently ongoing at the terminal.
"The terminal was officially handed to SIFAX Group in February 2019 by Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) that midwife the concession arrangement. The terminal was abandoned for over 10 years and you can imagine the state of infrastructure decay after such long abandonment"
"Since taking possession, we have been working with our partners to put the terminal in proper shape. Construction work is currently going on. The warehouse is completed, while the terminal building that will house the offices and customs officials are ready. The IT infrastructure is ready"
According to him, " some cargo handling equipment have been acquired and are already on site. What is left is just the finishing touches and I can confirm that very soon, operations will commence at the terminal. We will keep you informed when the first vessel births", he said.
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