The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Abubakar Dantsoho, has restated the company’s readiness to promote indigenous ownership of vessels in line with the ‘Nigeria First’ policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking during the maiden call of wholly Nigerian-owned container vessel “MV OCEAN DRAGON” at the West African Container Terminal, Onne Port Complex, Dantsoho said: “Apart from the high loading capacity of 349 TEUs and several other distinctive features of this vessel, we are fascinated that MV Ocean Dragon is wholly Nigerian which speaks to the Renewed Hope “Nigeria first” policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Nigerian Ports Authority’s renewed orientation towards Nigerian content development”.

Dantsoho added that the very fact that the vessel can move thousands of Gross Registered Tonnages across African destinations within days signposts Nigeria’s commitment to the dictates of International Association for Ports and Harbours (IAPH) on multi-modalism and seamless Port-Hinteland Connectivity.

“This gives us great delight as it supports the rationale behind NPA’s simplified export processes through the Export Processing Terminals (EPTs) conceptualized to link local producers of value in the remotest hinterland to the farthest international centres of demand”.

“Let me seize this moment to reiterate that the Authority’s port modernization project and ongoing reform initiatives around our Port Operations is cognizant of the need to sustain the enabling business environment that midwifed the year-on-year attainment of national trade surpluses”.

The container vessel owned by Clarion Shipping West Africa Limited, an indigenous investor which has a capacity of 349 Twenty-Foot-Equivalent Units (TEUs) gives a boost to concerted investment drive geared towards reaping the cost and time saving benefits of short-sea shipping by plying in-country maritime trade routes across Nigeria and the West African sub-region and offers an efficient alternative to road transport as the Authority’s efforts at deepening multi modalism crystallize.

The vessel is scheduled to operate across West Africa and beyond, servicing ports in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Egypt, South Africa.