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By Kenneth Jukpor
Amid fears that the emerging dry ports in the nation may be seen as a threat to the profitability of seaports terminal operators and shipping lines in the country, major shipping companies have assured facilitators of dry ports that they would ensure the projects are viable.
Although the success of dry ports in the country hinges on the market forces and demand of importers and exporters especially if they utilize the ports as ports of origin and destination, dry ports require seamless collaboration with shipping companies to function optimally.
The Managing Director of CMA CGM Nigeria Shipping Limited, Mr. Todd Rives gave this assurance while speaking at a Stakeholders’ meeting conveyed to create awareness about the operation of the Kaduna Dry Port which was commissioned by President Mohammadu Buhari on January 4th.
“We have always partnered with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and we are ready to support the Kaduna Dry Port because this is a project that is good for Nigeria, good for the economy and good for our business.”
“Nigeria is our biggest market and we want to continue to play our part in the development in the country. But this workshop shouldn’t stop here, we should also carryout corresponding actions to ensure that dry port operations are successful. We are business people set out to make profit but we are going to sell this idea to our customers.” Mr. Rives added.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Bello advised the seaport terminal operators not to see themselves as being in competition with the operators of the Dry Ports but see the activities of the dry port operators as complementary to their operations at the nation’s seaport.
Bello added that the Federal Government was very serious and anxious about the successful implementation of the project, urging all stakeholders to cooperate in order to ease the operations of dry ports like the Kaduna ICD.
“The reason for the meeting was to seek for stakeholders’ suggestion and cooperation on how best to go about it. It is a pioneering phase and as with things that are new, there are always some teething problems but I am sure if we work harder, we will provide that synergy that we have. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council is not doing this alone, ten years back, there has been an implementation committee made up virtually everybody who is here including the customs, the Nigeria Railway Corporation, the truckers, the freight forwarders, even more gladdening is the shipping companies and the terminal operators who are very critical to the success of this project” he said.
Hassan Bello also urged the port users such as freight forwarders to jettison the challenges and problems of the seaport clearance as they begin to use the dry ports, assuring them that new procedures would be established even as they were expected to fully abide by Customs procedures for import and export.
On his part, Capt. Ihenacho Ebubeogu, who was representing the Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman, stressed that the nation wouldn’t make any lasting success in the utilitizatio of dry ports until it prioritized the railway mode of transportation.
“Nigeria’s transportation system should be centred on the rail. Since independence Nigeria abandoned rail but this ought to be the major mode of Transport while other modes compliment the rail.” he said.
He also noted that cargo was about timeliness, safety and competitive costs and the Kaduna Dry Port operators should ensure they are able to guarantee those characteristics.
Ebubeogu also added that ports should be located at transit areas even as he praised the Kaduna ICD for meeting that criteria and increasing the survey area of ports in the nation.
On his part, the Managing Director, of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Fidet Okhiria extolled the long cordial relationship that had existed between the corporation and the Kaduna Inland Container Terminal before it transformed to Kaduna Inland Dry Port even as he said that the corporation had been working to improve on its container delivery to the terminal before the transformation.
The Managing Director also posited expected improvement on the part of the NRC was not going to be an overnight issue but assuring that with the present support they were getting from government, it was achievable.
“We will rededicate ourselves and try not fail Nigerians. I will say that within 36 hours, we will get the containers to the dry port. I came here with my Director of Operation so that would hear the views of others and see how we will able to maximize the opportunities available through dry ports and it may interest you to know that this year, we are bringing in about 20 container wagons and it is going to be better than what we have. And we are also trying to bring the locomotive that is stranded at Maiduguri, it was barely used for two weeks before the problem of insecurity started, we are making effort to bring it so that we deploy it to the fleet” he said.
However, the Chairman of Kaduna Dry Port, Mr. Tope Borishade stated that the emergence of Kaduna Dry Port would enhance the ease of doing business in Nigeria, even as he assured frequent stakeholders’ summits to ensure seamless operations at the port.
“We are already losing freight traffic to other neighbouring countries that we should make sure we do everything we can to take Nigeria to a place where it could be in better position to do this kind of business”, he noted.
