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.’
