NPA to review port concession agreement

The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authori­ty (NPA), Ms Hadiza Us­man, on Wednesday said that the port concession agreement would be reviewed.
Usman said this in Calabar at the commencement of a three-day facility tour of the Calabar port.
The managing director went on tour of concessioned facil­ities such as: Intels Logistics Services Nigeria Ltd, Ecoma­rine Terminals and Shoreline Logistic Ltd.

She said that the review of the concession agreement would have to be carried out in order to put all players on the same page.
The managing director ex­pressed concern that there have been violations of some of the terms of the concession agree­ments.
She spoke against the back­drop of many complaints by concessionaires in the port.
Usman said that the conces­sion agreement should be ad­hered to.
All the three major operators in the port lamented over inac­tivity, saying that they were ex­periencing 25 per cent capaci­ty utilisation in the port.
The News Agency of Nige­ria reported that 26 terminals across the country’s major ports were concessioned in 2006 by both NPA and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
The General Manager, ECM Terminals Ltd, Mr. Kingsley Iheanacho, said that the termi­nal no longer earned revenue from yard operations.
He said that container ves­sels and clearing agents were not coming to the port.
Iheanacho said that the ter­minal was just barely manag­ing to remain afloat and oper­ating skeletal services.
“Presently, we are having 25 per cent utilisation and that is what Calabar port is all about”, he said.
He lamented that the man­agement of the terminal spent a lot of money monthly to main­tain equipment.
Welcoming the new manag­ing director, the Port Manag­er of Calabar Port, Mr. Oluseyi Ogunbdele said the port man­agement and the General Man­ager, Eastern Ports, had been engaging stakeholders on how to boost container traffic in the port.