The promoters of Lekki Port and Lekki Freeport Terminal have said the Port has invested over $100 million in equipment, and would begin transshipment of cargoes in the coming weeks
They said the move would see Nigeria recover lost cargoes from neighbouring West African countries.
The Chief Commercial Officer, Lekki Freeport Terminal, Kehinde Olubi-Neye, who disclosed this during a chat with newsmen in Lagos, assured that the port has the technical capacity, draft and state-of-the-art equipment to recover transship cargoes bound for landlocked countries.
“The opportunity is to explore transshipment of cargoes to other regional countries in Africa.
“We are in the process of transshipment with the support of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) when the first transhipment vessel arrives in the coming weeks.
“The Lekki Freeport Terminal has discussed with stakeholders, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and they are confident that recovering transshipment cargoes not just for the hinterland but also for landlocked countries and other regional countries will be back in the country.
“We are here to connect global maritime trade into Nigeria, and that is why we have the deepest draft here. We do not have this draft anywhere else in Lagos and arguably, in some of the West African countries as well,
“We are not here to compete with other ports but to render services to the Nigerian people. The volume of cargoes coming into the port is low at the moment, but vessels are already using the ports”, he said.
Olubi-Neye said the port has also seen the opportunity to play a role in the uptake of cargo in the eastern port, saying that is why they are currently having discussions on moving containers discharged at Lekki Port by barge to Calabar, Warri, and Onitsha River Port, among others, to help increase the economy of those ports.
The Commercial Officer said the port is exploring the possibility of moving cargo by barges, and has been able to execute more than five barge moves of over 900 twenty-foot equivalent units of containers (TEUs) from Lekki Port to the Ikorodu area of Lagos.
Earlier, the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, described Lekki Port as a Nigerian project and assured that the NPA would do everything within its powers to grant necessary approvals and provide marine services to the port.
Represented by the Manager, Public Affairs of NPA, Ikechukwu Magarian, Bello said the Lekki Port would shape the maritime economy of the country and called on Nigerians to embrace and promote the port.