Africa gets 2% of world shipping trade, as S/Africa takes 1%
African countries get a mere two percent of the total shipping trade in the world, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Abdul Salam Mohammed, has said. Mohammed who disclosed this in Warri over the weekend in the cause of his tour of the facilities in the Delta ports, noted that of the two per cent which Africa gets, South Africa takes half of it, leaving Nigeria and the rest of the continent to compete for the other one per cent. The NPA boss explained that shipping companies only call at ports where their vessels are not only attended to quickly but effectively and efficiently. He pointed out that for a long time the authority has not lived up to it responsibility and therefore charged staff of the authority in Delta ports to brace-up for the challenges ahead.
He said all the ports in the country jointly handled 54 million metric tons of cargo last year, excluding crude and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) cargoes. He further noted that at a meeting recently, an official of the port of Abidjan in Cote D’Ivoire, told him that the port handled a total of 20 million metric tons in this same period.
This he noted represents about 50 percent of the total cargo handled by all the port in the country, even with the near war situation in that nation presently.
He therefore charged all port managers in the country to brace_up for a healthy competition that would make them the best and preferred destination for shippers heading for the continent. He said they most begin to take advantage of their competitive edge to be the best in the area where they have comparative advantage.
Furthermore, the NPA boss said that there are lots of changes taking place in the capacity of vessels carrying containers. Mohammed explained that while the largest ship ever handled in the country is a 3,000 container carrier, there is that of 10,000 capacity, even as a 22,000 capacity is presently being constructed.
Meanwhile, the management of NPA has concluded plans to reclaim its properties around the country which has been taken over by illegal occupants.
The NPA, helmsman who disclosed at Koko Port in Delta State, said the management was going through its documents to establish every detail of its landed properties in order to recover them.
He explained that the organisation was going through the history of acquisition which has taken a good number of years to ensure that nobody or organisation was occupying the NPA land.
“When we identify our landed properties, will approach the occupants, but if they refuse, we might not have any other option than to go court” Mohammed stated.
Speaking on the cargo throughput on the Delta ports, he said there was a lot of improvement from what it used to be one year ago, when vessels disserted the port, stressing that they were putting every effort to make it regains its lost glory.
The managing director regretted that the communities had contributed to the demise of vessels because of ethnic clashed in the past, stressing that no importer would like to route his cargo in volatile areas.
Mohammed expressed confidence that with the strategies mapped with the managers, the port would soon become a beehive, since it was closer to serve the hinterland.
On port development Mohammed said the NPA would set up smaller committee to not only at the local level, but from the headquarters to ascertain that concessionaires improved on their terminals.
He expressed dissatisfaction of the level of infrastructure development presently carried out at Warri Port by the terminal operators, maintaining that the Federal Government concessioned to port to create employment for the youths.
He said all the ports in the country jointly handled 54 million metric tons of cargo last year, excluding crude and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) cargoes. He further noted that at a meeting recently, an official of the port of Abidjan in Cote D’Ivoire, told him that the port handled a total of 20 million metric tons in this same period.
This he noted represents about 50 percent of the total cargo handled by all the port in the country, even with the near war situation in that nation presently.
He therefore charged all port managers in the country to brace_up for a healthy competition that would make them the best and preferred destination for shippers heading for the continent. He said they most begin to take advantage of their competitive edge to be the best in the area where they have comparative advantage.
Furthermore, the NPA boss said that there are lots of changes taking place in the capacity of vessels carrying containers. Mohammed explained that while the largest ship ever handled in the country is a 3,000 container carrier, there is that of 10,000 capacity, even as a 22,000 capacity is presently being constructed.
Meanwhile, the management of NPA has concluded plans to reclaim its properties around the country which has been taken over by illegal occupants.
The NPA, helmsman who disclosed at Koko Port in Delta State, said the management was going through its documents to establish every detail of its landed properties in order to recover them.
He explained that the organisation was going through the history of acquisition which has taken a good number of years to ensure that nobody or organisation was occupying the NPA land.
“When we identify our landed properties, will approach the occupants, but if they refuse, we might not have any other option than to go court” Mohammed stated.
Speaking on the cargo throughput on the Delta ports, he said there was a lot of improvement from what it used to be one year ago, when vessels disserted the port, stressing that they were putting every effort to make it regains its lost glory.
The managing director regretted that the communities had contributed to the demise of vessels because of ethnic clashed in the past, stressing that no importer would like to route his cargo in volatile areas.
Mohammed expressed confidence that with the strategies mapped with the managers, the port would soon become a beehive, since it was closer to serve the hinterland.
On port development Mohammed said the NPA would set up smaller committee to not only at the local level, but from the headquarters to ascertain that concessionaires improved on their terminals.
He expressed dissatisfaction of the level of infrastructure development presently carried out at Warri Port by the terminal operators, maintaining that the Federal Government concessioned to port to create employment for the youths.