New Nigerian floating dockyard to save $100m yearly as hub for ship maintenance
The federal government has taken delivery of a N49bn floating dockyard in Lagos through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and safety Agency (NIMASA).
Whereas the facility will henceforth save as much as $100 million dollars yearly for the government, industry observers say it will drive the nation’s dream of becoming the regional hub for maintenance of ships.
Since this week’s Tuesday, the dockyard, rated as Africa’s fifth largest, was visibly seen at the Marina anchorage.
It would be recalled that over 90 per cent of vessels operating in Nigeria carry out their dry docking overseas fretting away the much needed foreign exchange at great cost to the country.
This is why the agency had averred that “This will be a direct savings from the dry docking of vessels operating in Nigeria, which are mostly done outside the country at the moment. It is our desire to partner with the private sector to run the dockyard.”
Though it was not a project initiated by the present administration, the infrastructure was ordered during the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan between 2013 and 2014 but suffered some logistic issues which were later resolved leading to the completion and delivery.
The Director General, Dakuku Peterside, had earlier said was that the floating dockyard would boost ship repair capacity and has the potential to transform Nigeria’s maritime industry, generate wealth and create employment.
The modular floating dockyard, measuring 125 metres by 35 metres with three in-built cranes, transformers and a number of ancillary facilities, is being built by one of the world’s largest ship building firms, Damen Shipyards and its partner, NIRDA, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
