Following the successful berth of one of the World Gearless Container Vessels in Onne Port, Commercial Manager of West Africa Container Terminal (WACT), Noah Sheriff, has commended the management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for dredging the Onne Channels for the safe arrival of the vessel.
Sheriff said, without the efforts, support and the approval of NPA, the vessel wouldn’t have sailed successfully to the port
He made this known in Port Harcourt shortly after the safe berth of the Maersk Stadelhorn, with length of 300 metres and beam of 48.2metres and had the capacity to carry about 10,000 TEU.
Describing the safe saile to Onne Port as historic, Sheriff said WACT received the largest containership ever to berth at any Nigerian port.
He noted that the regular containerships calling at Nigerian ports are those in the class of WAFMAX with maximum capacity of 4,500 TEU.
“We are excited at this historic achievement. We thank the Nigerian Ports Authority for dredging the channels and for professionally piloting the vessel to the port.
“Without the effort, support and approval of NPA, this would not have been possible,” he said
Also Speaking, Country Manager of APM Terminals Nigeria, Klaus Laursen, said the huge investment by APM Terminals in WACT also made it possible for the terminal to upgrade its services with modern cargo handling equipment to be able to handle very large container carriers.
“The feat recorded here at WACT is impressive, the significance of this development is that even the ports in Lagos will now have to try and catch up with the new standards set by WACT.
“It is also important to mention that this is happening at this critical time when economies of the world are facing a lot of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is a mark of confidence in the Nigerian economy.
“We are saying that in spite of COVID-19, the Nigerian economy is strong and will continue to be buoyant.
“The COVID-19 challenges are temporary and the economy will certainly record positive growth in the nearest future,” Laursen said.
Earlier, Managing Director WACT, Aamir Mirza said, “Over the last four years, we have continued on the journey to develop our business by investing in our people and container handling equipment and our handling this vessel is in line with our vision to make WACT the best performing container terminal in West Africa.”
Mirza said by successfully handling the 10,000 TEU vessel, the terminal operator has “once again proved to all our customers that WACT is capable of competing with other ports in Nigeria and West Africa”.

Chinedu Wosu