National Carrier: Nigeria Signs MoU With PIL, Singapore

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   Agrees on 40 – 60 equity participation

• FG to guarantee cargo flow
• Dangote Group, Flour Mills show commitment 

At last, Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the emerging national carrier with the Pacific International Lines (PIL), an Asian Shipping giant incorporated in Singapore in 1967, with the condition that the Federal Government must guarantee cargo availability from the three tiers of governments in the country.

Under the terms of agreement, the Nigerian private sector operators are to maintain a 60 per cent equity ratio, while PIL retains 40 per cent.

Also, as the foreign technical partner, PIL is to provide the chief executive officer while the indigenous equity holders field the deputy chief executive officer, even as the position of financial controller and the deputy are shared for the PIL and Nigerians, respectively.

The MoU further stated, according to our source that the company’s operational headquarters will be domiciled in Nigeria, with the fleet of vessel own and operate on bareboat charter basis in the joint venture enterprise.

MMS Plus gathered that the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi led a delegation of Nigerians to Singapore to sign the MoU last week. Members of the delegation were drawn from the members of Ministerial Committee on the establishment of national carrier, chaired by the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Bello.

Other members in the delegation are: Barr. (Mrs.) Margaret Orakwusi, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, Mrs. Mfon Usoro, Mr. Aminu Umar, among others.

However, it was not clear how many vessels will make up the take-off fleet and what financial outlay constitutes the 60 percent or 40 percent of the total equity.

While no Nigerian ship-owner or private sector operator has shown financial commitment to the national carrier, the ministerial committee has got the commitment of the Dangote Group, some high profile Shippers and the Nigerian Liquefied National Gas (NLNG) to provide steady flow of cargo

for the emerging national carrier, especially when the Minister of Transport has severally stated that the shipping line would be granted a national carrier status, to fly Nigerian flag.

PIL operates container liners services with operations encompassing services to many major hub ports around the world. It has a network of container liner services covering the Far East to Europe, the Black Sea, Canada, the India sub-continent, the Red Sea/Gulf, Africa, Oceania, Latin America and the West Coast of USA.

PIL was one of the first few liners to provide a link from Asia and the Middle East to Africa.