West African ports constrict project cargo growth

Inadequate infrastructure and escalating costs could stunt project cargo growth in West Africa. “There is a major difference between the privately owned and state-owned areas and terminals within the ports – not only in terms of the infrastructure but also in terms of the rates,” said Arie ter Veen, managing director of Africa Port Services. “The reality is that efficiency does not come for free. One will find in West Africa that the terminals at ports catering for the oil and gas sector are all privately owned. And while non-oil-related cargoes can be discharged at these terminals, it is just too costly and it does not make economic sense to pay high charges for low-value cargo.” He said Nigeria was a good example, where Intels Nigeria Limited (Intels) had made extensive capital investments in order to build and develop reliable, efficient, world-class oil and gas logistic bases within the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) areas. “Many of the ports that we are using for project cargo were never built to handle the volumes they are seeing now. There is no space in the ports for any further development.” He said at the Port of Lagos congestion remained a critical issue if one was not using the private Intels terminal. “In the late sixties most of the space available for stacking and under roof storage and sheds was taken away by concessions that were given to industries, so in the modern day situation there is no stacking space. There is no possible way to discharge cargo here the way you would in the western world – and if you were to use the private terminal it would cost more than double.” Ter Veen said while there had been improvements in the ports models used in Africa, with turnaround times improving, they still had some serious obstacles to overcome including antiquated operational methods. “In Lagos, for instance, you are not able to take a vessel to any particular berth until all your documents are in order – and to the NPA specifications.” He said the oil and gas industry had impacted positively on the region as it had led to improvements in port efficiency that had led to less congestion. “But the focus is still on containers and not necessarily project cargo. If you take Ghana, containers are taking up all the space resulting in the ports being unable to handle breakbulk.” CAPTION Arie ter Veen … ‘Antiquated operational methods a major obstacle.’