From left: Director, Maritime Services, Federal Ministry of Transport, Babatunde Sule, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ajana, Managing Director, NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Hon. Onari Brown and Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Aderenle Adeshina during the commissioning of the ASD Bollard tugboats in Lagos, Friday.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transport, Dr Magdalene Ajana has said that the decision of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA signposts the country’s resolve to optimise the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement AfCFTA through trade facilitation.

The NPA had recently acquired two pieces of the neotric 80-tonne 2813 model of Damen’s ASD Bollard pull Tugboats christened MT Maikoko and MT Da-Opukuro, with 360 rotational capacities to move any vessel in any direction. By this feat, Nigeria becomes the first county to procure such a sophisticated craft in Africa.

Speaking in Lagos, Friday during the official commissioning of the two crafts, which sailed from Vietnam to the Lagos Ports Complex LPC, Apapa, the Permanent Secretary praised the management of the NPA for it’s drive towards renewal of port infrastructure as well as boosting marine equipment fleet, which are sure ways of enhancing port efficiency and boosting vessels’ turnaround time.

According to her, as a maritime nation, Nigeria’ s ability to adequately maximise her comparative advantage depends largely on how much she is able to deepen its efficiencies through the deployment of relevant technology and equipment.

She therefore assured of the continued support and cooperation of the ministry towards the unrelenting efforts of the NPA in making Nigeria a global reference point of excellence in trade facilitation.

She said: “It is a thing of joy for me to join other stakeholders for the commissioning of these two newly acquired state-of-the-art marine crafts by the Nigerian Port Authority NPA.

“By being the first in Africa to acquire these 2813 model of Damen’s ASD neoteric 80 Tons Bollard Pull Tugboats, the Nigerian Ports Authority has accentuated the determination of the Federal Ministry of Transport to boost port operational efficiency.

“My joy derives from the fact that the acquisition of these equipment, amongst many others that are in the works, signposts Nigeria’s seriousness to optimise the opportunities inherent in the African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA Agreement to which we are signatory.

“Maximising the comparative advantages that our maritime assets as a littoral nation confers rests heavily on how much we are able to deepen our efficiencies through the deployment of relevant technology and equipment.

“I particularly want to commend the NPA Management team for delivering on this project in good time to support the optimisation of the Lekki Deep Seaport. This is the kind of efficiency that the Ministry supports its agencies to entrench in the polity and I am happy that we are making progress.

“Let me reiterate the support of the Federal Ministry of Transport for the audacious efforts of the NPA and all our agencies and parastatals as we encourage inter-agency collaborations towards the attainment of the overarching goal of making Nigeria a global reference point of excellence in trade facilitation.”

Meanwhile, Managing Director of the NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, who also spoke at the event, expressed appreciation to the ministry for it’s cooperation, which he said is in tandem with the administration to position the NPA to respond squarely to contemporary demands of trade facilitation.

According to him, the management of the agency under his watch is imbued by the corporate aspiration to attain a hub port status by more efficiently servicing domestic cargo needs, winning back transit cargo hitherto lost to maritime neighbors and positioning to cater for the maritime needs of land-locked African neighbours.

He assured that the management under his watch is unwaveringly comitted to deploying the newly commissioned Lekki Deep Seaport as a launchpad for a transshipment hub for Africa as confirmed by the commissioning of the two state-of-the-art crafts.

“I am greatly delighted and honoured to welcome you to this occasion, which is a demonstration of this administration’s resolve to position the Nigerian Ports Authority to respond squarely to the contemporary demands of trade facilitation.

“Imbued by our corporate aspiration of attaining hub status by more efficiently servicing domestic cargo needs, winning back transit cargo hitherto lost to our maritime neighbours and positioning to cater to the maritime requirements of our landlocked neighbours, we have deployed a three-pronged strategy driven by people technology, infrastructure and equipment such as the state-of-the-art vessels we are gathered here to commission today.

“This occasion is part of the fulfillment of our service charter to provide relevent marine crafts to support port security, patrol, survelliance and most importantly deliver excellent marine services especially with the commencement of operations of Nigeria’s first Deep Seaport, the Lekki Deep Seaport.

“Our determination to continuously enhance our operational efficiencies accounts for the purchase of these new 80 Ton Bollard Pull Tugboats christened M.T MAIKOKO and M.T DA-OPUKURO to complement our existing fleet of tugs and recently commissioned Security Patrol Boats (SPBs) and Pilot Cutters deployed to enhance channel security across all our locations.

“These neoteric 80ton tugboats are the first of the 2813 Azimuth Stern Drive ASD Model in Africa constructed by the world’s leading ship builders (Damen) and they possess exceptional Seakeeping Behavior, Superb Manoeuvrability of 360° using the Azimuth Thrusters, fire-fighting capability and Outstanding Towing Characteristics which will enhance the maneuvering of large capacity vessels of 300 Metres LOA and above presently calling at our Ports.

“In addition to positively affecting the turnaround time of large vessels, their deployment will enable stakeholders leverage the concomitant benefits of economies of scale, especially cost savings.

“Permit me to seize this opportunity to reiterate that our drive towards deploying Lekki Deep Seaport as launch pad for transshipment remains unwavering and this event today is confirmation of our doggedness on this noble cause”, Bello-Koko said.

He therefore assured consignees, concessionaires and other stakeholders operating within Nigeria’s port industry of continuous improvement in service delivery from the NPA.