Business
Ship Owners, NNPC Partner To Boost Indigenous Shipping

As part of efforts to boost the participation of indigenous vessel owners in the Maritime sector operations, the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) is partnering with the Federal Government to ensure that the bottle necks which hinder participation of indigenous shipowners in crude shipment are removed.
Making this known to newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa during an interaction, the President of SOAN, Greg Ogbeifun, said that indigenous vessels have not been operating in crude shipment.
He said that a lot of obstacles were created for the operation of indigenous ships in the Maritime sector since the national Shipping line was liquidated.
Ogbeifu, who is the Chairman and Chief Executive officer of STARZs Investment Company, and a Shell trained Marine Engineer, noted that these challenges made the association to begin to seek for solutions.
According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) got involved in one of SOAN’s seminars recently, with the title “Benefits of Nigerian Fleets in Crude Shipment.
He said that this has given opportunity for dialogue between the Ship owners and the NNPC on how to encourage the participation of indigenous vessels in crude shipment.
The Ship repair and maintenance expert also said that he has received call from Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) inviting SOAN for dialogue on how to move the indigenous vessel operations forward.
Ogbeifun blamed the backwardness of the indigenous vessels participation in crude shipment on the inability of past administrations to disburst the two percent earning being contributed by companies, for loans for procurement of vessels, under the CABOTAGE law of Obasanjo’s administration.
He said that SOAN is taking some steps, so far in tackling some of the setbacks in the industry, as it has given opportunities for training of manpower to cover the gap created by CABOTAGE Law.
On why some vessels refuse to come to Port Harcourt Wharf, the SOAN boss posited that the security situation in the Niger Delta and inadequate facilities would be responsible for that.
“I think the issue has to do with security, and secondly on infrastructure, and access of vessels to Port Harcourt is harder than to Lagos”, he said.
Corlins Walter